Description du projet
Améliorer les performances des lentilles optiques grâce aux métasurfaces
Les métasurfaces sont des matériaux artificiels qui se présentent sous forme de feuilles et qui sont souvent utilisés pour manipuler la diffusion, la couleur, la phase ou l’intensité de la lumière. Il est possible d’adapter leurs propriétés à un large éventail d’applications. Le projet METAmorphoses, financé par l’UE, prévoit de développer la première métasurface optique capable de changer de forme, qui modifiera sa fonctionnalité à la demande et s’adaptera à des conditions extérieures variables. Cette métasurface pourrait fonctionner comme une lentille chimiquement sélective qui ne laisserait passer que l’empreinte spectrale d’une molécule spécifique dans la gamme de longueurs d’onde de l’infrarouge moyen. Cette même métasurface pourrait ensuite être transformée en une lentille adaptative permettant de focaliser la lumière sur la peau.
Objectif
I propose to realize the first shapeshifting optical metasurface that changes its functionality on-demand and adapts to changing external conditions. The metasurface may work as a chemically selective lens that allows transmission only of the spectral fingerprint of a specific molecule in the mid-IR wavelength range. The same metasurface can later be turned into an adaptive lens for focusing and detection under the skin. For such ambitious goal, a radically new approach is needed.
I will realize shapeshifting metasurfaces made of a polymer containing photo-switchable molecules. The surface of such polymers undergoes a morphology re-organization (surface structuring) when illuminated by an external visible light pattern. The polymer will be structured with visible light and the resulting metasurfaces will work in the mid-IR. I will use state-of-the-art optical nano-imaging techniques to investigate the surface structuring phenomenon at the nanoscale in order to achieve full control of the mechanism.
Since the polymer surface can continuously be adjusted with the illuminating visible light, it will be possible to shift from one encoded optical functionality to a completely different one. Once optimized, this completely out-of-the-box approach will be completed by developing a feedback mechanism that allows for self- adjustment of the polymeric metasurface to changing external conditions. This will open endless possibilities in many fields, from medical imaging to security and quality control.
The proposed approach is unprecedented but it is perfectly in line with my research activities, resulting in fact from merging different techniques that I master into a new research field.
My approach is also inexpensive relative to the usual nano-fabrication techniques and immediately compatible with high-volume production, providing a viable technology platform for lightweight, eyewear technology, that reflects the views of key industrial players in the field.
Champ scientifique
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitution d’accueil
16163 Genova
Italie