Special Sessions

Sessions of similar topics may be proposed, if needed we will schedule them at different slots over the conference period.

SP1. "A bottom-up approach towards metamaterials and plasmonics"

Organizer: Dorota Pawlak, ITME, Poland & Wounjhang (Won) Park, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

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. 

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Concita Sibilia, Università di Roma, Italy
  2. Mikhail Noginov, Norfolk State University, US
  3. Won Park, University of Colorado, US
  4. Alexandre Baron, Duke University, Center for Metamaterials and Integrated Plasmonics, US
  5. Anton Kuzyk, MPI IS Stuttgart,  Germany
  6. Katarzyna Sadecka, Institute of Electronic Materials Technology, Poland
  7. Johann Toudert, Laser Processing Group, Instituto de Óptica/CSIC, Madrid, Spain
  8. Kyoungsik Kim, Yonsei University, Korea
  9. Maria Farsari, FORTH, Greece   
  10. Andrés Guerrero-Martínez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
  11. Alexandre Dmitriev, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
  12. Anatoly Zayats, King's College London, UK
  13. Ortwin Hess, Imperial College, London, UK
  14. Ulrich Wiesner, Cornell University, US
  15. George Chumanov, Clemson University, US
  16. Virginie Ponsinet, CNRS, Pessac, France
  17. Maria Kafesaki, FORTH, Greece
  18. Paul Braun, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaiagn, US
  19. Rosa Merino, CSIC-University of Zaragoza, Spain
  20. Olivier Mondain-Monval, Université de Bordeaux, France
  21. Toralf Scharf, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
  22. Miguel Correa-Duarte, Universidade de Vigo, Spain
  23. Augustine Urbas, Air Force Research Laboratory, US
  24. Pablo Alonso González, CIC nanoGUNE, Spain

 

SP2. "Structured light in metamaterials"

Organizers: Natalia Litchinitser, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, USA, Richard Hammond, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and United States Army Research Office

The synergy between metamaterials and structured light opens entirely new opportunities fundamental and applied optical science. Metamaterials emerge as a new and unique platform for studies of basic physics and applications of structured light interactions, including novel regimes of spin-orbit interactions, extraordinary possibilities for dispersion engineering, and novel possibilities for nonlinear singular optics.

Topics:     

  1. Spin-controlled photonics;    
  2. Spin-Hall effects in metamaterials;    
  3. Manipulating orbital angular momentum of light with metamaterials and metasurfaces;    
  4. Nonlinear light-matter interactions of vector and singular optical beams in engineered materials.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Sir Michael Berry, University of Bristol, USA
  2. Konstantin Bliokh, RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science, Japan
  3. Allan Boardman, University of Salford, UK
  4. Robert Boyd, University of Ottawa, Canada & University of Rochester, USA
  5. Igal Brener, Sandia National Laboratories, USA
  6. Wenshan Cai, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
  7. Liang Feng, The State University of New York at Buffalo, USA
  8. Jingbo Sun, The State University of New York at Buffalo, USA
  9. Takashige Omatsu, Chiba University, Japan
  10. Jason Valentine, Vanderbilt University, USA 
  11. Xiaobo Yin, University of Colorado Boulder, USA 
  12. Nanfang Yu, Columbia University, USA
  13. Xiang Zhang, University of California Berkeley, USA
  14. Andrei Afanasev, The George Washington University, USA
  15. Maiken Mikkelsen, Duke University USA
  16. Mikhail Lapine, University of Technology - Sydney, Australia
  17. Zubin Jacob, University of Alberta, Canada
  18. Anton S. Desyatnikov, The Australian National University, Australia
  19. Mark Dennis, University of Bristol, UK

 

SP3. "Nonlinear and Reconfigurable Plasmonics and Metamaterials"

Organizers: Christos Argyropoulos, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA & Pai-Yen Chen, Wayne State University, USA

Nonlinear and reconfigurable plasmonic and metamaterial devices are considered among the most promising platforms for efficient light manipulation and the generation of tunable functionalities in devices such as lasers, optical antennas, waveguides, switches, and modulators. This session will cover recent advances in physics and applications of nonlinearity, tunability and switchability in plasmonics, nano-photonics, metamaterials and nano-optics.

Topics:     

  1. Nonlinear metamaterials and plasmonics: bistability, wave mixing and high-harmonic generation in plasmonic nanostructures, waveguides, and nanoantennas;  
  2. Active metamaterials: plasmonic loss compensation, spasers, quantum dots in plasmonic devices; 
  3. PT symmetric metamaterials: asymmetric propagation of light, unidirectional metamaterials and cloaks;
  4. Nonlinear conductivity in graphene and other 2D materials and their applications;
  5. Active and nonlinear microwave and THz metamaterials; non-Foster broadband metamaterials and stability issues.    

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Yang Li, Harvard University, USA
  2. Eric Mazur, Harvard University, USA
  3. Mohamed Farhat, KAUST, Saudi Arabia
  4. Mikhail Belkin, UT Austin, USA ​
  5. Alexandre Baron, Duke University, USA


SP4. "Functional Metastructures and Nanomaterials: Properties, Fabrication and Modeling"

Organizers: Alexander Govorov, Ohio University, USA and Hilmi Volkan Demir, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore & Bilkent University, Turkey.

The Session is focused on optically active hybrid nanomaterials composed of semiconductors, metals, dielectrics, polymers, biomolecules, etc.  Fabrication methods involved here include colloidal synthesis, lithography, deposition, bio-assembly, hybrid approaches, etc.  The central issues to be addressed in the Session are new physical and chemical functionalities coming from interactions between nanoscale building blocks.  These interactions involve electromagnetic, Coulomb and charge-transfer couplings.  Examples of functional nanomaterials include colloidal quantum dots, metal nanocrystals, layered structures, nanocrystal complexes, lithographic metastructures and metasurfaces, hybrid nanostructures, bio-assemblies of nanocrystals and dye molecules, bio-conjugates, etc.

Topics:     

  1. Plasmonic nanocrystal assemblies and metastructures with novel optical properties;
  2. Hybrid structures with exciton and plasmon resonances;
  3. Energy and change transfer in hybrid nanomaterials for light harvesting; 
  4. Hot plasmonic electrons in metal nanostructures for photodetectors and photochemical reactions;  
  5. Hybrid nanomaterials for photochemistry; 
  6. Biosensors and bioactuators with nanocrystals; 
  7. Photothermal effects in plasmonic nanostructures: Phase transformations and  chemistry; 
  8. Chiral plasmonic metamaterials; 
  9. Bio-conjugated chiral nanocrystals and nanostructures;
  10. DNA-assembled nanostructures for plasmonics, excitonics and optics;   
  11. Excitonic nanomaterials for solar cells and lighting; 
  12. Organic/inorganic solid-state lighting; 
  13. Magnetic nanocrystals and nanostructures;  
  14. Theoretical models of hybrid nanostructures, metastructures and metamaterials.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Yurii Gun'ko, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland 
  2. Tim Liedl, Munich University, Germany  
  3. Xing Yi Ling, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  4. Gary Wiederrecht, Argonne National Laboratory, USA
  5. Dongling Ma, INRS-Énergie, Canada 
  6. Stephen Gray, Argonne National Laboratory, USA 
  7. Federico Rosei, Director, INRS-Énergie, Canada
  8. Fiorenzo Vetrone, INRS-Énergie, Canada 
  9. Richard Schaller, Argonne National Laboratory, USA
  10. Renaud Bachelot, University of Technology of Troyes, France 
  11. Jerome Plain, University of Technology of Troyes, France
  12. Pierre-Michel Adam, University of Technology of Troyes, France 
  13. Hugh Richardson, Ohio University, USA 
  14. Jixin Chen, Ohio University, USA  
  15. Svetlana Boriskina,  Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
  16. Alexander Holleitner, Technical University Munich, Germany
  17. Nick Kotov, University of Michigan, USA
  18. Brendan G. DeLacy, U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, USA
  19. Chennupati Jagadish, Australian National University, Australia
  20. Nicolae C. Panoiu, University College London, UK
  21. Ventsislav K. Valev, University of Bath, UK
  22. Nianqiang (Nick) Wu, West Virginia University, USA
  23. Luca Razzari, INRS-Énergie, Canada
  24. Aycan Yurtsever, INRS-Énergie, Canada
  25. Na Liu, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Germany
  26. Gil Markovich, Tel Aviv University, Israel   
  27. Nick Vamivakas, University of Rochester, USA
  28. Min Ouyang, University of Maryland, USA
  29. Wei David Wei, University of Florida, USA
  30. Chuanlai Xu, JiangNan University, China
  31. Malcolm Kadodwala, University of Glasgow, UK
  32. Luat T. Vuong, Queens College of CUNY, New York, USA 
  33. Guillaume Baffou, Institut Fresnel, Marseille, France  
  34. Shuzhou Li, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  35. Pawel Keblinski, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, USA
  36. Jessica Rodríguez-Fernández,  Munich University, Germany   
  37. Theobald Lohmüller, Munich University, Germany   
  38. Christy Landes, Rice University, USA
  39. Stephan Link, Rice University, USA
  40. Jordi Martorell, ICFO Barcelona, Spain
  41. Torsten Hegmann, Kent State University, USA
  42. Hedi Mattoussi, Florida State University, USA  

 

SP5. "Acoustic, elastic and thermal metamaterials"

Organizers: Mohamed Farhat, KAUST, Saudi Arabia & Sebastien Guenneau, Institut Fresnel (CNRS), France.

Acoustic, mechanical and thermal metamaterials are one of the most promising areas of wave propagation in complex media. Contrary to plasmonics, mechanical waves do not suffer from high metallic losses that prevent the applicability of many exciting concepts, such as negative refraction or invisibility cloaks. This session will cover recent advances in physics and applications of elastodynamic metamaterials, transformation wave physics, heat cloaking (theory, numerical and experimental aspects).

Topics:     

  1. Acoustic and elastic metamaterials: Wave propagation, absorption and scattering in acoustical structures, metamaterials and metasurfaces, phononic crystals, cloaking devices; negative refraction and super-lensing;
  2. Nonlinear, active and tunable elastodynamic metamaterials;
  3. Acousto-optic and elasto-optic phenomena and enhanced control of the plasmon resonance: elastodynamically controlled THZ and optical metamaterials;
  4. Transformation thermodynamics and diffusion waves.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Richard Craster, Imperial College, UK
  2. Martin Maldovan, G-Tech, USA
  3. Cheng-Wei Qiu, NUS, Singapore
  4. Stefan Enoch, Institut Fresnel - CNRS, France
  5. Fabrice Lemoult, Langevin - CNRS, France
  6. Graeme Milton, University of Utah, USA
  7. Abdelkrim Khelif, FEMTO-ST - CNRS, France
  8. Patrick Sebbah, Institut Langevin - CNRS, France
  9. Vincent Pagneux, CNRS, France
  10. Baile Zhang, NTU, Singapore
  11. Pai-Yen Chen, Wayne State University, USA
  12. Johan Christensen, DTU, Denmark
  13. Xiao Meng, HKUST, Hong Kong
  14.  Tania Puvirajesinghe, Inserm, France
  15. Stephane Brule, Ménard Society, France

 

SP6. "Geometrical techniques for controlling electromagnetic waves"

Organizers: Simon Horsley, University of Exeter, UK & Oscar Quevedo-Teruel, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden.

Geometry has always been a powerful tool in optics, from Fermat's principle to Transformation Optics.  While Transformation Optics has established the application of coordinate transformations to designing optical devices, there are also many other geometrical insights that can help in understanding how matter affects the electromagnetic field. In this special session we shall discuss such geometrical techniques including coordinate transformations, generalizations of transformation optics, optical conformal mapping, field transformations and wave propagation on curved surfaces.  We expect to have a balanced contribution from both Physics and Engineering Communities, and we hope the discussions will focus on a mix of fundamental physics and its applications.

Topics:     

  1. Transformation Optics and Electromagnetics;
  2. Coordinate transformations;
  3. Optical conformal mapping;
  4. Wave propagation on curved surfaces;
  5. Metasurfaces;
  6. Graded index surfaces.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Paul Kinsler, Imperial College London, UK
  2. Rhiannon Mitchell-Thomas, University of Exeter, UK
  3. Douglas H. Werner, The Pennsylvania State University, USA 
  4. Matthias Kraft, Imperial College London, UK 
  5. Tie Jun Cui, Southeast University China, China 
  6. Miguel Navarro-Cia, Imperial College London, UK   
  7. Anthony Grbic, University of Michigan, USA 
  8. Guido Valerio, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France

 

SP7. "Advances in Hybrid Plasmonics"

Organizer: Mohamed Swillam, The American University in Cairo, Egypt.

With current progress in the field of plasmoincs, various materials have been utilized in conjuction with metal in order to improve the performance of the plasmonic systems. For example, plasmonic has been integrated with silicon for several on chip applications including on chip sensors, optical modulators, and switches. Organic material has been also utilized for active plasmonics applications and gain assisted plasmonics. Organic solar cell is considered as one of the promising technology for photovoltaics. In addition, nanoantenna for energy and biomedical application has been also designed using various metal hybrid technology. In this session we focus on integrating the metal and metal like material with different material that can enhance the performance of the plasmonic systems.  

Topics:     

  1. Novel organic plasmonics in energy, telecommunications and sensing applications;
  2. Gain assisted plasmonics and active plasmonics;
  3. Novel silicon plasomics for on chip applications;
  4. Efficient Modelling technique of hybrid plasmonics;
  5. Advances in hybrid Plasmonic for Nanoantenna;
  6. Fabrication and characterization techniques for hybrid plasmonics;
  7. Metal based Nano lasers...

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Peter Nordlander, Rice University, USA
  2. Amr Helmy, University of Toronto, Canada 
  3. Ali Belarouci , Université de Sherbrooke, Canada & Ecole Centrale de Lyon, France 
  4. Pierre Berini, University of Ottawa, Canada 
  5. Xun Li, McMaster University, Canada 
  6. Qiaoqiang Gan, University at Buffalo , SUNY, USA 
  7. Min Qui, Zhejiang University, China 
  8. Chenglin Xu, Synopsys Inc.,  USA   
  9. Mo Mohajahidi, University of Toronto, Canada    
  10. Abdulhakem Elezzabi, University of Alberta, Canada
  11. Vivian Ferry, University of Minnesota, USA 
  12. Ali Adibi, Georgia Tech, USA 
  13. Romeo Beccherelli, CNR-IMM, Italy 
  14. James Pond, Lumerical, Canada

 

SP8. "PT-symmetry in photonics, metamaterials and plasmonic systems"

Organizers: Anatole Lupu, Paris-Sud University, France & Henri Benisty, Institut d'Optique Graduate School, France.

The recent years have manifested a considerable interest for the novel physics and the novel opportunities offered by PT-symmetric systems that combine gain and loss in the same structure. This section will cover theoretical and experimental progress in the functionalization of combined gain and loss in photonics, metamaterials and plasmonics.  

Topics:     

  1. Singularities and broken symmetries in systems with gain and loss;
  2. PT-Symmetry Plasmonics and Metamaterials;
  3. Transformation optics using PT symmetry.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Carl M. Bender, Washington University, USA
  2. Pierre Berini, University of Ottawa, Canada
  3. Li Ge, City University of New York, USA.
  4. Yogesh N. Joglekar, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, USA
  5. Tsampikos Kottos, Wesleyan University, Middleton, USA
  6. Jensen Li, University of Birmingham, UK
  7. Giorgos Tsironis, University Crete and FORTH, Greece
  8. Jianming Wen, Yale University, USA
  9. Lan Yang, Washington University, USA
  10. Yuliy Bludov, Universidade do Minho, Portugal
  11. Andrey Sukhorukov, Australian National University, Canberra
  12. Mário Silveirinha, University of Coimbra, Portugal 

 

 

SP9. "Thermoplasmonic and near-field  heat transfer between metamaterials"

Organizers:  Philippe Ben-Abdallah, Laboratoire Charles Fabry, CNRS, France & Svend-Age Biehs, Institut für Physik, Oldenburg University, Germany.

Nowadays, nanofabrication facilities are able to design complex composite magneto dielectric structures at subwavelength scale from the visible to the infrared range and beyond. This allows for exploring a whole new level of complexity in material science. The dissipation mechanisms inside such structures are responsible for local heating which give rise to radiative exchanges both inside the medium and with its surrounding environment. This session will focus on the latest theoretical and experimental developments on the following topics :

Topics:     

  1. Fluctuational electrodynamics
  2. Near-field heat transfer measurement
  3. Local heating and temperature measurement
  4. Many-body radiative heat transfer
  5. Control of near-field heat exchanges
  6. Quantum description of radiative heat transfer
  7. Near-field energy conversion

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Gang Chen, MIT, USA 
  2. Achim Kittel, Oldenburg University, Germany 
  3. Alejandro W. Rodriguez, Princeton University, USA 
  4. Carsten Henkel, Universitat Potsdam, Germany 
  5. Mauro Antezza, Montpellier II University, France 
  6. Zubin Jacob, Alberta University, Canada 
  7. Zhuomin Zhang, Georgiatech - Atalanta, USA 


SP10. "Metamaterials based on novel symmetries"

Organizers: Jensen Li, University of Birmingham, UK & Minghui Lu, Nanjing University, People Republic of China.

The special session of "Metamaterials based on novel symmetries" is focused on the emerging applications of metamaterials with special phenomena originated from symmetries or as a platform to investigate novel symmetry effects originally from condensed matter physics and quantum mechanics. Following topics on theories, experiments and applications related to novel symmetries are welcome.

Topics:     

  1. Symmetry protected optical topological states
  2. Parity-Time symmetric metamaterials
  3. Exceptional points or singularities in optics
  4. Optical spin-Hall effect and geometric phase in optics
  5. Supersymmetry
  6. Nonreciprocal optics
  7. Other optical or acoustical analogs with novel symmetries

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Xiang Zhang, University of California, Berkeley, USA
  2. Hakan E. Tureci, Princeton University, USA
  3. Yidong Chong, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  4. Steven A. Cummer, Duke University, USA
  5. Hong Chen, Tongji University, China
  6. Nicholas Fang, MIT, USA
  7. Liang Feng, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, USA
  8. Xiaoshun Jiang, Nanjing University, China
  9. Shuang Zhang, University of Birmingham, UK
  10. Natalia M. Litchinitser, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, USA
  11. Ruixin Wu, Nanjing University, China
  12. Li Ge, City University of New York, USA
  13. Dmitry Solnyshkov, Université Blaise Pascal, France
  14. Boubacar Kante, University of California San Diego, USA
  15. Xiao-Ping Liu, Nanjing University, China
  16. Henning Schomerus, Lancaster University, UK
  17. Uriel Levy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
  18. Peter Schmelcher, Universität Hamburg, Germany
  19. Haim Suchowski, Tel Aviv University, Israel

 

SP11. "Nitrogen Vacancy Centers in Diamond"

Organizer: Carlos Meriles, City College of New York - CUNY, USA.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Gregory David Fuchs, Cornell University, USA
  2. Marko Loncar, Harvard University, USA
  3. Jörg Wrachtrup, University of Stuttgart, Germany
  4. Dirk Englund, MIT, USA
  5. Paola Cappellaro, MIT, USA
  6. Lachlan Rogers, University of Ulm, Germany
  7. Tim Taminiau, Delft University of Technology, Nedherlands
  8. Luis Javier Martinez Rodriguez, ENS Cachan, France
  9. Mikhail Lukin, Harvard, USA
  10. Andrei Faraon, Caltech, USA
  11. Abdelghani Laraou, City College of New York, USA
  12. Kevin Chang, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  13. Carlo Bradac, The University of Sydney, Australia
  14. Paul Barclay, The University of Calgary, Canada
     

SP12. "Interactions between structured light and matter at the nano-scale"

Organizer: Luat Vuong, Queens College - CUNY, USA, Gabriel Molina-Terriza, Macquarie University, Australia.

The interactions of light and matter at the nanoscale have a considerable influence beyond the near-field domain. Indeed, as a result of such interactions, the optical far field can attain a complex structure. This session addresses the light-matter near-field interactions with inhomogeneous and structured materials-- including plasmonic and dielectric structures-- that govern complex vectorial and spatio-temporal coherence, including changes in angular momentum flux, in order to illuminate the physics between non-paraxial fields and nanostructures.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Garcia de Abajo, IFCO, Spain
  2. Javier Aizpurua, CSIC, Spain
  3. Etienne Brasselet, LOMA - CNRS, France
  4. Federico Capasso, Harvard University, USA
  5. Peter Catrysse, Stanford University, USA
  6. Jennifer Dionne, Stanford University, USA
  7. Ruben Esteban, DIPC, Spain
  8. Yuri Gorodetski, Ariel University, Israel & University of Strasbourg, France
  9. Dragomir Neshev, The Australian National University, Australian
  10. Arno Rauschenbeutel, The Vienna University of Technology, Austria
  11. Andrei Faraon, alifornia Institute of Technology, USA

 

SP13. "Radiative thermal emission control"

Organizers: Ali Belarouci, Nanotechnologies and Nanosystems Lab-CNRS, Canada & Philippe Ben Abdallah, Laboratoire Charles Fabry-CNRS, France.

Micro-nanocroscale far-field thermal radiation has received much attention lately because of its important applications in energy harvesting such as solar cells and thermophotovoltaics, nanomanufacturing, biomedical sensing, thermal imaging and locating heating below the diffraction limit. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding and management of micro/nano-scaled radiative thermal emission is critical for many fields of modern science and technology. This session will cover recent advances in physics, applications and future outlooks of micro-nanoscale far-field thermal emission control.

Topics:     

  1. Thermal radiative emission harnessing by metamaterials, micro-nanostructures;
  2. Selective thermal emitter;
  3. Dynamic thermal emission control;
  4. Thermophotovoltaics, sensing and imaging applications;
  5. Radiative Cooling;
  6. Thermochromic materials.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Susumu Noda, Kyoto University, Japan
  2. Marin Soljačić, MIT, USA
  3. David J. Norris, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  4. Jérémie Drévillon, Institut P'-CNRS, Université de Poitiers, France
  5. Mikhail Kats, Harvard University, USA
  6. Aaswath Raman, Stanford University, USA
  7. Mohamed Swillam, American University in Cairo, Egypt

 

SP14. "Topological photonics in synthetic electromagnetic media"

Organizer: Alexander Khanikaev, The City University of New York, USA.

The field of topological photonics is one of the most recent and rapidly growing directions in the area of synthetic electromagnetic media, from photonic crystals to metamaterials. Topological photonic states have unprecedented property of topological robustness and protection against structural imperfections and disorder, which are inevitable in realistic photonic structures and devices. In addition to purely fundamental interest in emulating exotic states of light,  the photonic topological order can be of immense importance for practical applications of metamaterials in general. The special session on topological order of light at META 15 will feature invited talks by the most recognized experts in the field along with latest developments in this area presented as regular talks.    

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Moti Segev, Technion, Israel
  2. Marin Soljačić, MIT, USA
  3. Michal Lipson, Cornell University, USA
  4. Gennady Shvets, University of Texas at Austin, USA
  5. Mikael Rechtsman, Pennsylvania State University, USA
  6. Che Ting Chan, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
  7. Mohhamad Hafezi, University of Maryland, USA
  8. Andrey Miroshnichenko, The Australian National University, Australia
  9. Hossein Mousavi, University of Texas at Austin, USA
  10. Qian Lin, Stanford University, USA 

 

SP15. "Transformation Electromagnetics concepts and applications"

Organizers: André de Lustrac and Shah Nawaz Burokur, Université Paris Sud, France.

Transformation Electromagnetics (TE) is a powerful tool that provides the conceptual design of novel, and otherwise unattainable, electromagnetic and optical devices by controlling the wave propagation path and the material properties. This section will cover all topics related to the use of TE and its application to the design of microwave and optical devices. Applications include antennas, lenses, illusion devices, waveguide tapers and bends, field rotators (non-exhaustive list).

Topics:     

  1. Theoretical formulations for novel EM designs;
  2. Limitations and challenges of device realizations;
  3. Fabrication techniques and experiments on TE-based devices.

 

SP16. "Metamaterial-based radiating and absorbing structures"

Organizers: Xavier Begaud, Telecom ParisTech, France & Shah Nawaz Burokur, Université Paris Sud, France.

Since the last decade, metamaterials have been used as basic structures in the design of microwave antennas and other related devices. This section will cover all topics related to the use of metamaterials and metasurfaces in radiating structures and absorbing screens.

Topics:     

  1. Design of metamaterial-based lenses and antennas;
  2. Fabrication and measurements of metamaterial structures for antenna applications;
  3. Design and measurements of absorbing materials and screens.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Douglas Werner, Pennsylvania State University, USA  
  2. Di Bao, Nanjing Southeast University, China 
  3. Ferran Paredes, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain 
  4. Kuang Zhang, Harbin Institute of Technology, China 
  5. Isabelle Huynen, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium 
  6. Anthony Grbic, University of Michigan, USA 
  7. Oscar Quevedo-Teruel, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
  8. Juan Carlos Iriarte Galarregui, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Spain
  9. YoungPak Lee, Hanyang University, Korea

 

SP17. "Chiral and Nonlinear Metamaterials: Properties, Fabrication, and Applications"

Organizers: Ventsislav K. Valev, University of Bath, UK & Nicolae C. Panoiu, University College London, UK.

 Because of the possibility to achieve negative refractive index in metamaterials and the advent of superchiral light, the general area of chirality is currently undergoing a remarkable revolution. Due to the favorable power-law scaling of near-field enhancements, new nonlinear optical properties are emerging in chiral metasurfaces and metamaterials as well.

Topics:     

  1. Fabrication of chiral metamaterials, including top-down and bottom-up approaches;
  2. Experimental characterization of nonlinearities in metamaterials and metasurfaces;
  3. Fabrication techniques for metamaterials with enhanced nonlinear response;
  4. Experimental characterization of chiral metamaterials;
  5. Chirality of nonlinear optical interactions in metamaterials;
  6. Optical nonlinearities in graphene and other 2D materials;
  7. Theoretical modelling of nonlinear metamaterials, including material properties characterizing the second and third harmonic generated light;
  8. Theoretical frameworks for chiral metamaterials, including design of metamaterials with enhanced chirality;
  9. Computational methods for chiral and nonlinear metamaterials;
  10. Superchiral light and chiral metasurfaces;
  11. Interactions between (super)chiral meta/nanomaterials and quantum systems (atoms and molecules).

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. David Andrews, University of East Anglia, UK
  2. Marco Centini, La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
  3. Aitzol Garcia-Etxarri, Center for Material Physics, San Sebastian, Spain
  4. Harald Giessen, Universität Stuttgart, Germany
  5. Alexander Govorov, Ohio State University, USA
  6. Martti Kauranen, University of Tempere, Tempere, Finland
  7. Alexander Khanikaev, Queens College - CUNY, USA
  8. Ajay Nahata, University of Utah, USA
  9. Dragomir Neshev, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
  10. Richard Osgood, Columbia University, New York, USA
  11. Vittorianna Tasco, National Nanotechnology Lab, CNR-Nanoscienze, Italy
  12. Thierry Verbiest, KU Leuven Univrsity, Belgium
  13. Anatoly Zayats, King’s College London, UK
  14. Thomas Zentgraf, University of Paderborn, Germany
  15. Shuang Zhang, University of Birmingham, UK

 

SP18. "Optically engineered emission: from the weak to the strong coupling regime"

Organizers: Stephane Kena-Cohen, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada.

An emitter’s optical environment can have a dramatic effect on its excited-state behaviour. Optical microcavities, nano-antennas and hyberbolic metamaterials have been used to modify the local density of states resulting in changes in both radiative lifetime and directionality. In the extreme case where the light-matter interaction is strong enough, this interaction can give rise to new hybrid quasiparticles called polaritons. This special session will address topics related to the use of optical structures through this full range of interaction strength to modify emitter properties.

Topics:     

  1. Single-emitters coupled to microcavities/antennas;
  2. Emitters coupled to hyperbolic metamaterials;
  3. Light-matter interaction with atomic monolayers;
  4. Polariton condensates;
  5. Strong plasmon-exciton coupling;
  6. Ultrastrong coupling;
  7. Optical structures for efficiency enhancement;
  8. Reduced photobleaching.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Jeremy Baumberg, University of Cambridge, UK
  2. Mikhail Noginov, Norfolk State University, USA
  3. Antonio Badolato, University of Rochester, USA
  4. Zubin Jacob, University of Alberta, Canada
  5. Stefan Maier, Imperial College, UK
  6. Marcelo Davanco, NIST, USA
  7. Johannes Feist, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
  8. Gleb Akselrod, Duke University, USA
  9. Jelena Vuckovic, Stanford University, USA
  10. Alberto Bramati, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), France
  11. Daniele Sanvitto, CNR - Lecce, Italy
  12. Peter Nordlander, Rice University, USA

 

SP19. "Large-scale metamaterial assemblies"

Organizers: Jake Fontana, Naval Research Laboratory, USA.

A pragmatic, nontrivial issue impeding the realization of optical metamaterial devices is the need for robust and efficient assembly strategies. Developing approaches to control the nanometer sized elements while enabling macroscopic throughput is critical in transitioning metamaterial properties to devices.  This multidisciplinary session will highlight recent advances in the physics, chemistry and biology of large-scale metamaterial theory, assembly and characterization.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Jennifer Dionne, Stanford University, USA
  2. Debashis Chanda, CREOL, University of Central Florida, USA
  3. Giuseppe Strangi, Case Western Reserve University, USA
  4. Rich Vaia, Air Force Research Laboratory, USA
  5. Peng Yin, Harvard University, USA
  6. Oleg Gang, Brookhaven National Lab, USA
  7. Matteo Cargnello, Stanford University, USA
  8. Andrea Tao, UC San Diego, USA

 

SP20. "Ultrahigh frequency transport and terahertz plasmonics in nanoscale structures, metamaterials, and 2D materials"

Organizers: Sergey Rudin, U. S. Army Research Laboratory, USA & Michael Shur, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA.

Ultrahigh frequency transport at time scale comparable or smaller than momentum and energy relaxation time becomes very important since the mainstream semiconductor technology reached dimensions below 15 nm (smaller than the silicon mean free path at room temperature). Further progress will be linked to metamaterials, two-dimensional materials, such as graphene or MoS2, and photonic and plasmonic crystals operating at such time scales. Potential applications include ultra-high-speed wireless communications, imaging, sensing, and medical and biotechnology applications.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Wojciech Knap, University Montpellier 2 and CNRS, France  
  2. Taiichi Otsuji, RIEC Tohuku University, Japan 
  3. Victor Ryzhii, RIEC Tohoku University, Japan and University of Aizu , Japan
  4. Greg Rupper, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, USA 
  5. Gregory Aizin, Kingsborough College/CUNY, USA  
  6. Vyacheslav Popov, Kotelnikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Russia 
  7. Vladimir Mitin, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA 
  8. Luca Dal Negro, Boston University, USA      
  9. Sergey Ganichev, University of Regensburg, Germany   
  10. Weimin Zhou, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, USA
  11. Alessandro Tredicucci, University of Pisa, Italy

 

SP21. "Optical Forces and Manipulation of Momentum in Metamaterials and Plasmonics"

Organizers: Philippe Tassin, Chalmers University, Sweden & Vincent Ginis, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.

Since a few years, there is an increasing interest in the manipulation of the optical momentum using nanostructured materials. Indeed, it has been shown that metamaterials and plasmonic devices offer the possibility to enhance the optical momentum transfer and increase the associated optical forces by several orders of magnitude. In this session, we will cover the enhancement of optical momentum for actuation of macroscopic systems as well as the use of optical forces to manipulate microscopic constituents of metamaterials and plasmonics systems.

Topics:     

  1. Manipulating optical forces using metamaterials and plasmonic structures;          
  2. Metamaterials to enhance optical scattering forces;      
  3. Using optical forces as a novel tool to design metamaterials with scaleable nonlinearities;          
  4. Optical forces between metasurfaces.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Frederico Capasso, Harvard University, USA 
  2. Che Ting Chan, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
  3. Javier García de Abajo, ICFO, Spain 
  4. Steven G. Johnson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA 
  5. Thomas Koschny, Ames Laboratory-U.S. DOE and Iowa State University, USA
  6. Kobus Kuipers, AMOLF, The Netherlands 
  7. Eric Plum, University of Southampton, UK 
  8. Michelle L. Povinelli, University of Southern California, USA   
  9. Ilya Shadrivov, Australian National University, Australia 
  10. Thomas Zentgraf, University of Paderborn, Germany 
  11. Xiang Zhang, University of California at Berkeley, USA

 

SP22. "Nano-apertures and applications"

Organizers: Sang-Hyun Oh, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, USA & Reuven Gordon, University of Victoria, Canada.

Following the discovery of extraordinary optical transmission, metallic nanoholes and slits have been the focus of intense research. These nanostructures provide a fascinating and practical platform for localization of analyte and light in a common region, resonant imaging, nonlinear optics, optical trapping, background-free illumination and collection of light, giant field enhancements, to name a few. This session will feature presentations on new fabrication techniques (e.g. ion-beam lithography, nanoimprinting, atomic layer lithography), aperture physics, as well as applications in sensing, imaging, trapping, and spectroscopy involving nano-apertures and related structures.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

  1. Teri Odom, Northwestern University, USA
  2. Mikael Kall, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
  3. Joshua Edel, Imperial College London, UK
  4. Filbert Bartoli, Lehigh University, USA
  5. P. James Schuck, Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, USA
  6. Jer-Shing Huang, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
  7. Victor I. Balykin, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
  8. Ngoc-Cuong Nguyen, MIT, USA

 

To submit your papers to a special session, please select the special session name as the conference Track /Category during the submission process.

Participants interested in organizing Special Sessions as part of META'15 are requested to submit a proposal according to the following guidelines.


 

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