Project description
The realisation of near-zero refractive index devices ushers in a new era of nanophotonics
Photonics is concerned with the control of light. Beginning with the advent of lasers more than a half century ago, the field took off with the integration of lasers and optical fibres, spurring the telecommunications revolution and the explosion of the Internet. Modern photonics now includes important areas of research and development, such as quantum optics, optoelectronics and quantum electronics. More recently, novel materials in which the index of refraction of light approaches zero have become the topic of extreme interest and high innovation potential. Their exotic light-matter interactions and wave phenomena promise a revolution in nanophotonics. The EU-funded NZINATECH project is planning to demonstrate the potential of near-zero-index media by translating basic research into practical devices, significantly enhancing along the way our understanding of the quantum theory of light-matter interactions.
Objective
Near-zero-index (NZI) media is a family of photonic nanostructures (continuous media and/or metamaterials) characterized by a near-zero refractive index. As the refractive index approaches zero, spatial and temporal variations of the electromagnetic field decouple, giving rise of a regime of qualitatively different light-matter interactions. Therefore, NZI nanostructures exhibit a unique optical response, where a concept as basic as the geometry plays an essentially different role. Examples of the exotic wave phenomena include transmission through deformed waveguides, cavities whose resonant frequency does not depend on the geometry of their external boundary, nonradiating modes in three-dimensional open cavities, violation of effective medium theories, anomalous dispersion, nonperturbative nonlinear optics, to name a few.
These unconventional effects have a high potential for technological innovation. However, the crucial challenge of transforming these basic phenomena into practical devices has not yet been addressed. In NZINATECH, we will address this challenge pushing forward the basic theoretical research on NZI media to the stage of NZI nanophotonic technologies. To this end, we have outlined an ambitious research plan that includes the experimental demonstration of NZI devices in different material platforms, including polar dielectrics, doped semiconductors and silicon photonics. This multidisciplinary research plan will combine the fields of NZI media, metamaterials, quantum optics, electron-beam spectroscopy, thermal emission and silicon photonics.
Our results will also open new areas of research for NZI media, including nontrivial interactions of NZI optical modes with free-electrons and small quantum systems. Finally, by examining fundamental questions in limiting cases (i.e. extreme constitutive parameters) we will provide a better understanding of the quantum theory of light-matter interactions.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences electromagnetism and electronics semiconductivity
- natural sciences mathematics pure mathematics geometry
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry metalloids
- natural sciences physical sciences optics spectroscopy
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-STG - Starting Grant
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2020-STG
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31006 Pamplona
Spain
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