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Synthesis and characterization of photonic crystals (PC’s)
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Optical properties of PC’s and nano-patterned metals
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PC-based devices
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Noise and quantum correlations in optical systems
My group research interests focus on studying novel optical phenomena in micro- and nano-patterned materials. Our goal is to achieve better understanding of strong light-matter interactions in such systems, and to harness the observed effects to an interesting variety of applications. The systems, generally known as photonic crystals (PC’s), consist of various optical materials (e.g. dielectrics, metals, polymers…) periodically patterned on length scales comparable to visible wavelengths.
A central effort is directed towards developing new methods based on colloidal self-assembly for achieving three-dimensionally patterned structures. Characterization of these materials can be done via various microscopy techniques, which characterize the individual building blocks as well as the crystalline structure and optical properties of the assembled PC’s. Nonlinear optical studies and device applications of PC’s (and not necessarily just PC’s) will be actively pursued.
Another area of interest is noise and quantum correlations in optical systems. The motivation behind this is to formulate a consistent description of phenomena, which lack an otherwise formal representation in quantum theory (e.g. the measurement of time in quantum mechanics).
We are currently installing a wet laboratory for PC-synthesis and an optics lab.
Stay tuned. There will be more about PC’s and other interesting photonic systems in the near future.