Bring an emerging topic to META 2027

SP1

Commercialization of Metasurface and Nanophotonic Devices

Matthew SingerThorlabs Inc, USA

Nanophotonic devices has seen spectacular growth in the past decades. In particular we are seeing these devices move from the laboratory to commercially viable products in a range of applications from telecommunications, biosensing, image processing, and more. As the commercialization of these nanophotonic devices becomes more prevalent, it is imperative to understand the process of moving a technology out of the lab as well as how to integrate a technology into a specific application space, so that new technologies can enter the marketplace. The goal of this session is to educate the META community on existing examples of commercially viable meta and nano products through academic/industry collaborations, university spin off companies, industry tools used in the design of nanostructures, existing infrastructure for the scalable manufacture of nanostructures, and the successful application spaces where these devices are being implemented. This special session will focus on both research and development of nanophotonic technologies, to inform the community on practical considerations when designing, manufacturing, scaling, and qualifying these devices.

Invited Speakers

SP2

Structured Fields and Ultrafast Chiral Spectroscopy

Jamal BerakdarMartin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany

Andrei AfanasevThe George Washington University, USA

Chirality is a fundamental symmetry property affecting the electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of matter. To access information related to chirality, specific electromagnetic fields and setups are necessary. In this session, methods and proposals will be discussed that enable generating chiral electromagnetic fields with applications to time-resolved chiral spectroscopy and microscopy of matter in the linear and non-linear regimes.

SP3

Parity-Time and Quasi-Normal Modes in Photonics, Plasmonics, Acoustics

Anatole LupuC2N/Paris-Saclay University, France

Henri BenistyInstitut 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. Extra photonic features such as chirality also add a new twist to those topics. 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.

SP4

When “meta” meets “materials”: innovative materials, fabrication, functionalities

Dorota PawlakENSEMBLE3, Poland

Virginie PonsinetCNRS-Université de Bordeaux, France

The session will explore recent advances in materials exhibiting tailored electromagnetic responses, covering the full research chain from material concepts and design to characterization and practical applications, with a special focus on materials manufacturing. Emphasis will be placed on understanding material behavior, linking theory with experiments, and identifying opportunities for real-world use. The session seeks to provide a common platform for materials scientists, physicists, and application-oriented researchers interested in the development and utilization of advanced electromagnetic materials.

SP5

Non-Hermitian Photonics: Topological, Disordered and Quantum systems

Konstantinos MakrisUniversity of Crete & IESL-FORTH, Greece

Li GeCUNY, USA

Exceptional points, non-orthogonal eigenmodes, PT-symmetric systems and many other general notions and concepts of non-Hermitian physics have attracted a lot of attention lately. Such an interest was initially driven by PT-symmetric optics and non-Hermitian photonics and now has led to an amazingly high number of ground-breaking experiments with novel applications. From single mode PT-lasers, ultrasensitive microcavity sensors, optical isolators, unidirectional invisibility to broadband wireless power transfer, PT- metamaterials, topological lasers and quantum non-Hermitian systems, this new research field proves that the synergy of gain and loss distributions can be a different way for unprecedented control over light propagation and emission. This session will focus on the most recent theoretical and experimental advances at the frontier of the physics of non- Hermitian complex systems and their potential applications.

SP6

Towards chiral and magnetoelectric quantum electrodynamics – Focus Session In Continuity with Symposium IV

Eugene KamenetskiiBen Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

In the electrodynamics of metamaterials, the problems of light interaction with resonant chiral and magnetoelectric (ME) responses are far from fully resolved. This session will examine research aimed at unifying the concepts of chirality, magnetoelectricity, and quantum electrodynamics (QED). It focuses on how to integrate the chirality and magnetoelectricity of material structures with the quantum nature of light. These are the questions of the quantum-level studies of light-matter interactions in systems with broken symmetries. The SP6 session is an independent scientific session but fundamentally linked to Symposium IV.

Invited Speakers

SP7

Bio-Inspired Nanophotonics

Debashis ChandaCollege of Optics and Photonics - CREOL, University of Central Florida, USA

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 and structural colors, by bringing together leading scientists from diverse backgrounds and technical fields across academia and industry.

SP8

Epitaxy at the Nanoscale: From Quantum Nanostructures to Metamaterials and Metaphotonic Devices

Sofiane HaffouzNational Research Council, Canada

Ryan LewisMcMaster University, Canada

This session will examine advances in nanoscale epitaxy and materials engineering for next-generation photonic, metaphotonic, and quantum technologies. It will address the controlled growth and integration of quantum nanostructures, photonic crystals, metastructures, metasurfaces, and metamaterials. Emphasis will be placed on the interplay between materials, nanoscale structure, and light–matter interactions, from fundamental phenomena to emerging optical and quantum devices.

Invited Speakers

SP9

Plasmonics and Nanophotonics: Fundamentals and Applications

Hong WeiInstitute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

The excitation of surface plasmons in metal nanostructures enables manipulating light beyond the diffraction limit, which can be utilized for enhancing and tailoring light-matter interactions and developing ultra-compact high-performance nanophotonic devices. With the emergence of novel nanophotonic materials and concepts and the developments of advanced techniques, plasmonics and nanophotonics continuously propel fundamental sciences and various applications. This session will cover recent advances in both the fundamentals and the applications of plasmonics and nanophotonics.

SP10

Passive and Reconfigurable Metasurfaces for Advanced Imaging, Sensing, and Communication

Adam PanderNTT Device Research Laboratories, NTT Inc., Japan

With rapid advances in semiconductor technology, considerable attention has been directed towards various metasurfaces across radio frequencies and optics as a foundational technology for next-generation wave manipulation, enabling unprecedented control over electromagnetic waves using subwavelength structures. This special session highlights the latest breakthroughs in both passive and dynamically reconfigurable metasurfaces that push the boundaries of wave-matter interactions for practical applications and novel functions, including beam steering, beam scanning, focusing, polarization switching, and so on. By bridging the gap between laboratory concepts and practical deployment, the session showcases transformative solutions for next-generation imaging systems, high-sensitivity sensing, and adaptive wireless communication networks.

Invited Speakers

SP11

Metamaterials for Biomedicine: From Physical Formalisms to AI-Enabled Diagnostics

Tatjana GricVilnius Tech, Lithuania

This special session will explore emerging applications of metamaterials and metamaterial-inspired concepts in biomedicine, with particular emphasis on the convergence of electromagnetics, photonics, biological tissue characterization, sensing, imaging, and artificial intelligence. The session will highlight how metamaterial concepts can move beyond engineered structures toward new physical frameworks for describing, interrogating, and classifying complex biological systems. Particular attention will be given to the development of electromagnetic and optical biomarkers, quantitative tissue characterization, metamaterial-enhanced sensing and imaging, and physics-informed AI approaches for cancer diagnostics. The session will also address the transition from fundamental concepts and modelling toward experimental validation and clinical translation.

Invited Speakers

SP12

Cavity Quantum Materials and Polaritonic Devices: From Microscopic Theory to Functionality

Yu ZhangLos Alamos National Laboratory, USA

This session will spotlight emerging directions in cavity quantum materials and polaritonic/plasmonic device physics, where engineered electromagnetic environments and strong light–matter coupling can qualitatively reshape electronic, excitonic, vibronic, and optical properties. We will bring together theorists, computational scientists, and experimentalists to connect microscopic mechanisms with measurable signatures and experimentally accessible observables. The scope spans electronic-structure and many-body approaches through open-system cavity QED and mesoscopic electrodynamics, emphasizing reliable links between models, spectroscopy, and realistic material–cavity architectures. The session will also highlight how polaritonic architectures can enable quantum information science, including enhanced emitter–cavity coupling, coherent transduction between modalities, and scalable hybrid quantum photonic components for sensing, communication, and quantum-enabled control. A particular goal of this session is to identify current challenges, define community benchmarks, and foster collaborations across theory, computation, and experiment.

SP13

Metamaterials and Metasurfaces as Platforms for Next-Generation Electromagnetics: Fundamentals, Applications and Future Trends

David R. SmithDuke University, USA

Okan YurdusevenQueen’s University Belfast, UK

Metamaterials are engineered structures that can synthesize artificial electromagnetic responses that may not be available in natural materials. Deep-subwavelength engineering of structures to realize tailored electromagnetic responses has become an exceptionally active area of research, driven by experimental demonstrations of phenomena including negative refraction, electromagnetic cloaking and perfect lenses. This session will cover promising advances in metamaterial-based electromagnetic science, from fundamental theory to applications and recent developments, bringing together leading researchers for focused discussions in this rapidly evolving field.

SP14

Topological Insulator Metamaterials

Giuseppina SimoneUniversity of Napoli “Federico II”, Italy

Topological insulators bring unique symmetry-protected surface states to metamaterials and metasurfaces, enabling new routes to engineer robust, spin-polarized, and non-reciprocal light–matter interactions. By structuring topological insulators into resonators, lattices, and hybrid platforms, it becomes possible to realize metamaterial functionalities that are immune to disorder, exhibit exotic boundary phenomena, and operate across photonic, plasmonic, and optoelectronic regimes. The session focuses on the design, fabrication, and application of topological-insulator-based metamaterials, covering both fundamental concepts and emerging devices for quantum, sensing, and energy-efficient photonic technologies.

Invited Speakers