Dynamic metasurfaces have emerged as a disruptive change in the way the response of optical systems can be tailored, combining the flexibility of flat optics in spatially engineering materials at the nanoscale with the opportunity to reconfigure the metasurfaces' properties reversibly upon external stimuli over time. The photoinduced optical nonlinearities mediated by high-energy, ‘hot’ electron-hole pairs represent the elective approach to maximize the speed of reconfigurability and reach tuning rates up to tens of GHz or even higher, beyond any other approach.
This research thesis will focus on the design and the characterization of the ultrafast response of optical metasurfaces (either made of plasmonic or dielectric materials) that can be reconfigured by using femtosecond pulses. This is a highly multidisciplinary project at the interface of ultrafast optics, nanophotonics and material science. The project will be performed in the context of an EU-funded project “ULYSSES”, aiming at controlling photochemical processes in real time by using ultrafast metasurfaces as a new platform for open optical “meta-cavities”. This thesis work will be performed in the ERC-granted ULYSSES laboratory.

More Info: margherita.maiuri@polimi.it
Links: https://www.ulysses-erc.eu
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