Should you be interested in organizing a Special Session at META 2022, please contact us at contact@metaconferences.org. Sessions of similar topics may be proposed, if needed we will schedule them at different slots over the conference period.

See example of sessions proposed at META 2021 here: META 2021 special sessions

SP1. "Bottom-up approaches, new fabrication routes and ENSEMBLE3"

Organizers: Dorota Pawlak (ITME, Poland) & Virginie Ponsinet (CNRS-Université de Bordeaux, France)

The session will cover all aspects of novel approaches to manufacturing of materials with special electromagnetic properties as metamaterials and plasmonic materials. The stress will be on bottom-up approach however the session aims to bring together also scientists applying novel ideas in top-down manufacturing methods. The session will include manufacturing, theory, characterization and application. The session aims to bring together material scientists, experts in electromagnetic theory and characterization as well as researchers presenting applications of the materials.

Topics:

1. Bottom-up fabrication routes for nanomaterials;
2. New fabrication methods for nanophotonics;
3. Self-assembled metamaterials;
4. Disordered and non-periodic metamaterials and metasurfaces;
5. Colloidal optical nanoresonators.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Ilja Gunkel, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
2. Parvaneh Mokarian-Tabari, The University of Dublin, Ireland
3. Tapio Niemi, Tampere University, Finland
4. Won Park, University of Colorado, USA
5. Matthias Pauly, Institut Charles Sadron, France
6. Emilie Pouget, CNRS - Univ. Bordeaux, France
7. Carsten Rockstuhl, KIT, Germany
8. Rosalia Serna, CSIC Madrid, Spain
9. Yuebing Zheng, University of Texas at Austin, USA

SP2. "Local enhancement and control of light-matter interaction"

Organizer: Antonio Ambrosio (CNST@POLIMI - Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy)

Local manipulation of light-matter interaction by means of nanostructuring of photonics materials is a well-established reality. One example is the physics of polaritons in some 2D materials. The session will discuss the most recent achievements about topics like:

Topics:

1. Polaritons in 2D material;
2. Near-field microscopy;
3. Visible and Mid-IR metasurfaces and metamaterials;
4. Intersubband transitions;
5. Tunable nano-devices.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Cristina Benea-Chelmus, EPFL, Switzerland
2. Humeyra Caglayan, Tampere university, Finland
3. Stefano Chiodini, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy
4. Giuseppe Della Valle, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
5. Fei Ding, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
6. Johnathan Fan, Stanford university, USA
7. Patrice Genevet, CNRS, France
8. Hayk Harutyunyan, Emory University, USA
9. Howard Lee, University of California, Irvine, USA
10. Marco Piccardo, CNST@POLIMI - Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy
11. Eva Pogna, CNR, Italy
12. Luca Razzari, INRS, Canada
13. Haoran Ren, Macquaire University, Australia

SP3. "Machine learning for metamaterials and metasurfaces"

Organizer: Willie Padilla (Duke University, USA)

Recent application of machine learning and deep learning has enabled accelerated design of metamaterial and metasurfaces, thus overcoming significant challenges with conventional numerical methods. For many metamaterial and metasurface systems, conventional optimization approaches are limited and not able to efficiently solve for a desired scattering response. The issue of finding the geometry of a metamaterial or metasurface that will give a desired spectral response – the inverse problem – is also is of keen interest and, as of yet, an unsolved problem. Research on machine learning, deep learning for accelerated metamaterial discovery and optimization, inverse neural networks, and interpretable machine learning, will be covered in the present session.

Topics:

1. Machine learning and deep learning for nanoscale structured materials;
2. Forward and inverse machine learning approaches;
3. Supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning;
4. Interpretable machine learning;
5. Metamaterial and metasurface discovery and optimization with machine learning.

SP4. "Acoustic and elastic phononic crystals, metamaterials and other structured media"

Organizers: Marco Miniaci (IEMN - CNRS, France), Vicente Romero-García, Vincent Pagneux, Maxime Lanoy, and Jean-Philippe Groby (LAUM - CNRS, France) & Noé Jiménez (I3M - CSIC, Spain)

Acoustic and elastic phononic crystals, metamaterials and other structured media are known to exhibit unconventional static and dynamic properties. They allow the manipulation of acoustic and elastic waves (propagating either in fluids or in solids) in a counterintuitive way when compared to "usual" materials. The objective of the session is to disseminate and share ideas and theoretical, numerical and experimental results to promote the development of ultra-compact devices for the control of acoustic and elastic waves. For this, we encourage you to submit your work in the field concerning, among others, the following subjects:

Topics:

1. Acoustic and elastic metamaterials;
2. Acoustic and elastic phononic crystals;
3. Acoustic / elastic metasurfaces;
4. Non-reciprocal manipulation of waves in fluids and solids;
5. Topological protection / insulation in acoustics and elasticity;
6. Acoustic meta-devices based on transformation acoustics, parity-time symmetric acoustics, topological acoustics;
7. New physical concepts to exploit acoustic/vibrational waves;
8. New applications of functional devices based on elastic / acoustic metamaterials for detection, masking, imaging, absorption, energy recovery, etc.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Maroun Abi Ghanem, Institut Lumière Matière, France
2. Ricardo Alcorta Galvan, IEMN, France
3. Florian Allein, IEMN, France
4. Thomas Brunet (Keynote Speaker), I2M, France
5. Johan Christensen, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
6. Thibaut Devaux, University of Tours, France
7. Leo-Paul Euvé, ESPCI, France
8. Fernando Fraternali, University of Salerno, Italy
9. Varvara, Kouznetsova, TU/e, The Netherlands
10. Pawel Kudela, Institute of Fluid Flow Machinery, Poland
11. Svetlana Kuznetsova, LAUM, France
12. Jensen Li, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
13. Mike Nieves, Keele University, UK
14. Feng Qin, University of Bristol, UK
15. Malte Rontgen, Hamburg University, Germany
16. Massimo Ruzzene, Boulder University, USA
17. José Sanchez-Dehesa, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
18. Giulia Scalet, Università di Pavia, Italy
19. Marc Serra-Garcia, AMOLF, The Netherlands
20. Kestutis Stanliunas, UPC/ICREA, Spain
21. Sarah Tessier, IEMN, France
22. Daniel Torrent, Universitat Jaume I, Spain
23. Bogdan Ungureanu, Imperial College of London UK
24. Li Yang, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

SP5. "Bio-Inspired Nanophotonics"

Organizer: Debashis Chanda (College of Optics and Photonics - CREOL, University of Central Florida, USA),  Hyuck Choo (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Korea) & Radwanul Hasan Siddique (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology America, USA)

Structural color is produced through combinations of reflection, scattering and interference which eliminates color bleaching of pigmentation based absorptive color generation mechanisms. Plasmonic as well as dielectric metasurfaces/nanostructures offer the unique ability to control the propagation of light via phase/amplitude modifications on nanostructured surfaces, producing vivid structural color. Flexible, thin-film structural color holds great promise for next generation displays and prints.

Topics:

1. Transmissive/reflective structural color;
2. High contrast color;
3. Angle independent color generation;
4. Active and passive tunability;
5. Bio-inspired color;
6. Integrated devices.

SP6. "Functional metamaterials"

Organizers: Tatjana Gric (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vilnius), Edik Rafailov (Aston University, UK) & Maria Farsari (FORTH/IESL, Greece)

The Session is devoted to discussing the recent developments in the fields of artificial materials and their applications ranging from compositions, structures such as orientation, arrangement, geometry, size, shape, and smart properties including manipulation of electromagnetic waves by blocking, absorbing, enhancing, or bending waves. Over the past 20 years, techniques for producing nanostructures have matured, resulting in a wide range of ground-breaking solutions that can control light and heat on very small scales. Some of the areas of advancement that have contributed to these techniques are photonic crystals, nanolithography, plasmonic phenomena, and nanoparticle manipulation. From these advances, a new branch of novel material science has emerged—metamaterials. Metamaterials have, in the last few decades, inspired scientists and engineers to think about waves beyond traditional constraints imposed by materials in which they propagate, conceiving new functionalities, such as subwavelength imaging, invisibility cloaking, and broadband ultraslow light. While mainly for ease of fabrication, many of the metamaterials concepts have initially been demonstrated at longer wavelengths and for microwaves, metamaterials have subsequently moved to photonic frequencies and the nanoscale. At the same time, metamaterials are recently embedding new quantum materials such as graphene, dielectric nanostructures and, as metasurfaces, surface geometries and surface waves, while also embracing new functionalities such as nonlinearity, quantum gain, and strong light–matter coupling. The Session will provide a unique topical opportunity for engineers, students, researchers, professionals from academia and industries to present their research results, breakthrough innovations, discoveries, path-breaking ideas, experiences, and products display at an international platform.

Topics:

1. 3D printing
2. Functional plasmonics
3. Homogenization of anisotropic media
4. Metasurfaces
5. Propagation of surface plasmon polaritons
6. Applications of metamaterials
7. Metamaterial based devices

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Kevin Conley, Aalto university, Finland
2. Sotiris Droulias, FORTH, Greece
3. Thu Le, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan
4. Johannes Lischner, Imperial College London, UK
5. Vladimir Mityushev, Cracow University of Technology, Poland
6. Ruwen Peng, Nanjing University, China
7. Anatoliy Pinchuk, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, USA
8. Jerome Plain, UTT - Université de Technologie de Troyes, France
9. Steve Smith, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, USA
10. Zhipei Sun, AALTO, Finland
11. Philippe Tassin, Chalmers University, Sweden

SP7. "Challenges of Phase Change Materials and Plasmonics for Nanophotonics"

Organizers: Maria Losurdo, Yael Gutiérrez (CNR-NANOTEC, Italy), Kurt Hingerl, Christoph Cobet (Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Austria), Mircea Modreanu (University College Cork, Ireland) & Fernando Moreno (Universidad de Cantabria, Spain)

At present, the transition from electronic to optical circuits is one of the technological challenges where material physicists and optical engineers focus their current research. The goal, to get faster and low consumption systems for applications ranging from health to digital communications. As an example, digital photonic logic circuits are key elements in the next generation of optical computers and memory devices, therefore, the development of efficient integrated switchers for building optical gates is basic. Phase Change Materials (PCM) have shown to be the key for developing this new technology. The peculiarity of these materials is that their optical properties can be controlled by an external stimulus, optical, electrical, thermal, etc. This attractive behavior, shown by a handful of chalcogenide alloys, exemplified by the Ge–Sb–Te (GST) family, has been exploited in a wide range of photonic devices including optical switches but recent research has shown that new alternative material compounds, also chalcogenide based, are able to open new possibilities for applications with more efficient photonic digital circuits. The objective of this special session intends to show the recent advances obtained with novel alternative PCM, its development and characterization in 2D and 3D configurations, and their attractive possibilities for building efficient optical devices for computation and communications. All this research is supported and framed by a recent project called PHEMTRONICS funded by the European Commission in its FET-OPEN-H2020 call.

Topics:

1. Phase change materials;
2. Plasmonics;
3. Phase transitions in solids;
4. Reconfigurable devices;
5. Optical switches;
6. Neuromorphic networks;
7. Optical computing;
8. Optical communications;
9. Optical memories.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Ali Adibi, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
2. Pablo Albella, University of cantabria, Spain
3. Luca Bergamini, Universidad del Pais Vasco-CSIC, Spain
4. Harish Bhaskaran, Oxford University, UK
5. Laura Calió, Institute of Materials Science of Sevilla - CSIC, Spain
6. Cornel Cobianu, NANOM MEMS SRL, Romania
7. Leonardo de Souza Menezes, Nano-Institute Munich, Germany
8. Nikolaos Farmakidis, Oxford University, UK
9. Vincenzo Giannini, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-CSIC, Spain
10. Javier González-Colsa, University of cantabria, Spain
11. Mario Graml, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
12. Sergio Gutierrez, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
13. Jimmy John, Institut des Nanotechnologies de Lyon, France
14. Dilson Juan, University of Cantabria, Spain
15. Alexey V. Kravasin, King College London, UK
16. Fernando Loren, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
17. Otto Munskens, University of Southampton, UK
18. Wolfram Pernice, University of Münster, Germany
19. Josef Resl, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
20. Jose Sanchez Gil, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-CSIC, Spain
21. Gonzalo Santos, University of Cantabria, Spain
22. Robert E. Simpson, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore
23. Thomas Taubner, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
24. Johann Toudert, ENSEMBLE3 Centre of Excellence, Poland
25. David Wright, University of Exeter, UK
26. Matthias Wutting, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
27. Nathan Youngblood, University of Pittsburgh, USA
28. Ioannis Zeimpekis, University of Southampton, UK
29. Nikolay Zheludev, University of Southampton, UK

SP8. "Molecular Optomechanics"

Organizer: Alejandro Martínez (Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain)

Bringing cavity optomechanics down to the molecular scale should enable manipulation of vibrational motion via optical fields, down to the single-molecule level. However, reaching optomechanical back-action requires the use of plasmonic cavities that tightly confine light in deeply subwavelength volumes. Indeed, surface-enhanced Raman scattering can be interpreted within the framework of cavity optomechanics, and optomechanical back-action effects have been evidenced. Recent experiments have gone a step further showing optomechanical frequency upconversion using molecular vibrations. This session will deal with molecular optomechanics, a nascent field that holds the promise for new phenomena and applications in the classical and quantum realms.

Topics:

1. Frequency upconversion using molecular optomechanics;
2. Collective effects in molecular ensembles;
3. Plasmonic and hybrid nanocavities;
4. Light-vibration quantum correlations;
5. Light-induced effects in SERS, TERS and SEIRA;
6. Electrical excitation and probing of molecular vibrations;
7. Quasinormal modes and dissipative coupling in molecular optomechanics;
8. Quantum effects in plasmonics.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Wen Chen, EPFL, Switzerland
2. Rohit Chikkaraddy, University of Cambridge, UK
3. Rubén Esteban, DIPC, Spain
4. Johannes Feist, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
5. Jian-An Huang, University of Oulu, Finland
6. Diego Martín-Cano, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
7. Ilan Shlesinger, AMOLF, Netherlands

SP9. "Topological photonics and plasmonics"

Organizers: Yuri Gorodetski (Ariel University, Israel) & Denis Garoli (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy)

Optical systems exhibiting topological effects attract a vast research interest as they can support lossless and directional propagation of optical signals, strong localization, polarization dependent behaviors and other intriguing phenomena. The session will cover all aspects of topological photonics and topology based light-matter interactions. The focus will be made on nanophotonic or plasmonic systems, however other types of excitations, such as seismic or acoustic waves may also be discussed. We invite scientists from diverse research fields with an expertise in topology to share their results and ideas.

Topics:

1. Topological effects in optics;
2. Geometric (Berry) phase;
3. Plasmonic and photonic structures with broken time-reversal symmetry;
4. Systems supporting edge states;
5. Interaction of electromagnetic, acoustic, or seismic waves with topological metamaterials.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Gonzague Agez, Université Paul Sabatier, France
2. Vincenzo Caligiuri, Università della Calabria, Italy
3. Therry Grosjean, FEMTO-ST Institute, France
4. Nicolò Maccaferri, Umeå University, Sweden
5. Nir Shitrit, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
6. Wenhui Wang, Adolphe Merkle Institution, Switzerland

SP10. "Thermal plasmonics and metamaterials for low-carbon society"

Organizers: Junichi Takahara (Osaka University, Japan) & Kotaro Kajikawa (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)

Recent progress of nanophotonics enables efficient mutual conversion between light (photon) and heat (phonon). This session focuses on advanced studies on thermal phenomena for plasmonics and metamaterial/metasurface towards low-carbon society. The topic includes thermal plasmonics, metamaterial-based perfect absorbers and emitters, thermal radiation control in near/far field, photothermal effect, advanced heat transfer devices, and thermophotovoltaic systems, radiative cooling and related topics.

Topics:

1. Thermal plasmonics and refractory plasmonics;
2. Perfect absorbers based on metamaterials/metasurfaces;
3. Thermal radiation control by metamaterials/metasurfaces;
4. Thermal radiation in near/far field;
5. Thermal-optical multiphysics simulation;
6. Thermophotovoltaic devices and systems;
7. Photothermal effect;
8. Radiative cooling, etc.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Andrea Fratalocchi, King Adullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
2. Takuya Inoue, Kyoto University, Japan
3. Satoshi Ishii, NIMS, Japan
4. Wakana Kubo, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan
5. Bjorn Maes, University of Mons, Belgium
6. Makoto Shimizu, Tohoku University, Japan
7. Kai Sun, University of Southermpton, UK
8. Pham Tien Thanh, VNU Vietnam Japan University, Vietnam

SP11. "Parity-Time and quasi-normal modes in Photonics, Plasmonics, Acoustics"

Organizers: Anatole Lupu (C2N/Paris-Saclay University, France) & Henri Benisty (Institut d'Optique Graduate School, France)

The use of new symmetry properties in Photonics, Plasmonics, Acoustics has emerged in the recent years. They exploit unusual categories of modes and states that open yet unexplored avenues. Parity-Time symmetric structures are a key example of such a class of non-Hermitian systems of renewed interest in optics and photonics (gain/loss structures) for diverse flavours of broken symmetries. Quasi-normal modes help building sound pictures of non-hermitian systems and are also an increasingly considered topic. This special session will cover theoretical and experimental progress in the exploration and functionalization of systems exhibiting this class of special-symmetry-related features in the areas of photonics, plasmonics and acoustics.

Topics:

1. Non-Hermitian Photonics, Plasmonics, Metamaterials, Acoustics;
2. PT-symmetry related functionalities enabled by gain-loss engineering: theory, devices, applications;
3. Singularities, broken symmetries, topological states in non-Hermitian systems;
4. Studies of quasi normal modes in general Non-hermitian contexts.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Muriel Botey, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain
2. Che-Tin Chang, HKUST, Hong Kong
3. Mercedeh Khajavikhan, CREOL, USA
4. Ivor Kresic, Vienna University of Technology, Austria
5. Alejandro Manjavacas, University of New Mexixo, USA
6. Masaya Notomi, NTT Basic Research Lab, Atsugi, Japan
7. Hamidreza Ramezani, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), USA
8. Henning Schomerus, Lancaster University, UK
9. Alex Y. Song, Sydney University, Australia
10. Andrey Sukhorukov, Canberra ANU, Australia
11. Giorgos Tsironis, University of Crete, Greece
12. Jan Wiersig, Otto van Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany

SP12. "Bio-Inspired Nanophotonics"

Organizer: Debashis Chanda (College of Optics and Photonics - CREOL, University of Central Florida, USA), Hyuck Choo (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Korea) & Radwanul Hasan Siddique (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology America, USA)

Millions of years of evolution in the biological world has developed a plethora of micro- and nanoscopic photonic structures that are frequently superior to synthetic analogs. Such brilliant photonic surfaces and volume structures fulfil a multitude of functions simultaneously including flexibility, mechanical integrity, efficient energy regulation and resistance from harsh environmental conditions. Therefore, strong scientific intersection of artificial metamaterials and biological structured matter drawing on expertise in materials science, chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering will lead to new fundamental understanding, design approaches, novel fabrication techniques, and practical photonic applications.

The proposed session will focus on emerging biological and bioinspired photonic materials, their interesting biological phenomena and new fundamental properties, complex formation and fabrication processes and emphasize advanced functionalities for versatile photonic applications by bringing together leading scientists from a diverse background and technical fields across academia and industry.

Topics:

1. Structural color and their properties;
2. Multifunctional biophotonic structures;
3. Dynamic and adaptive biophotonic structures;
4. Complex, disordered and multiscale formation and phenomena of biological and bioinspired structures;
5. Scalable fabrication strategies: multiscale, self-assembly, additive;
6. Characterization, imaging and spectroscopy of biological and bioinspired photonic materials;
7. Bioinspired nanostructures for imaging and sensing applications;
8. Applications of bioinspired materials in mechanics, healthcare and energy.

SP13. "Extreme meta-photonics"

Organizers: Nasim Mohammadi Estakhri (Chapman University, USA) & Iñigo Liberal (Universidad Publica de Navarra, Spain)

The theoretical and experimental advent of meta-photonics during the past two decades have constantly pushed the boundaries of attainable functionalities and performance. These advances largely leverage on extreme light-matter interactions supported in meta-photonic platforms. In this special session we explore recent progress related to meta-structures involving extreme shapes (e.g., singular geometry), extreme materials (e.g., very small or very large permittivity, etc.), and extreme functionalities (e.g., Q-factor in quasi-BIC devices, etc.).

Topics:

1. Symmetry breaking in time and space;
2. Devices based on quasi-bound states in the continuum (quasi-BIC);
3. Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) photonic devices and applications;
4. Singular meta-structures: anomalies, hotspots, and bandwidth;
5. Extreme functionalities in photonic and plasmonic device (including enhanced localization, nonreciprocity, nonlinearity, chirality, etc. ).

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Karim Achouri, EPFL, Switzerland
2. Paloma Arroyo Huidobro, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Potugal
3. Emanuele Galiffi, The City University of New York, USA
4. Michaël Lobet, University of Namur, Belgium
5. Mario Miscuglio, George Washington University, USA
6. Younes Ra'di, The City University of New York, USA
7. Ana Díaz Rubio, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain
8. Yue Li, Tsinghua University, China
9. Larissa Vertchenko, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark