The TMN-II conference gathered physicists studying a rather wide variety of areas in the field of nanostructures, nanophotonics and metamaterials, in a broad range of wavelengh, going from the visible to the terahertz.
The presentations covered the optical or electrical properties, both from an experimental and theoretical point of view, of a large ensemble of nano-scale systems, ranging from two-dimensional semiconductor nanostructures, nano-cristals, Transition Metal Dichalcogenides, graphene and Kagome BCN structures, Dirac/Weyl semi-metals and topological insulators. Prospects for applications were discussed, including for instance in the fields of nano-photonics, spin-tronics, valley-tronics. Plasmonic, all-dielectric and hybrid metallic/dielectric nano-antennas can lead to localized nano-chemistry for highly enhanced surface sensing, while quantum dots embedded in chiral photonic crystal structures opens various important applications in optoelectronics, quantum information technology and chiral synthesis.
At the micro-scale, Meta-Material (MMs) represent the next level of structural organization of matter. The structural elements of a MMs are called meta-atoms, small building blocks or unit cells engineered in large 1D, 2D or 3D arrays. The possibilities of combining various micro-inclusion shapes, such as resonant spheres, rings or wires and even various small electronic components are infinite and so are the possibilities for the artificial Metamaterial behavior. The application possibilities of Metamaterials are found in industrial sectors like Information and Communication Technologies, Space, Security and Defense.
On the edge between nano and micro, the development of efficient coherent sources for terahertz (THz) emission is a subject of intense activity for both applied and fundamental research. The terahertz frequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum, in the far infrared, has a broad number of potential applications across the physical, medical, biological, environmental and astronomical sciences. For instance, THz quantum cascade lasers THz QCLs can be used in the development of micro-fluidic sensor chips, MEMS based resonators, self-mixing imaging systems, coherent three-dimensional imaging, near-field/super-radiant microscopy and as local oscillators in satellite-based instrumentation for Earth observation and planetary science. Another topic of interest lies with the strong coupling regime between electronic transitions and THz photons confined in semiconductor microcavities. The resulting new “polariton” excitations display important interest both for fundamental physics as well as for applications to new light sources.
TMN-II Scientific Program and Abstracts can be downloaded at:
http://www.mifp.eu/SCHOOLS/TERAMETANANO-2/program.html Scientific Secretary: Dr Carlo Levi – carlo.levi76@gmail.com