Metasurfaces for photonic sensing applications

Abstract

Metasurfaces are a new paradigm for controlling and manipulating light beams, having a broad variety of applications such as sensing, imaging, augmented reality and microscopy, to mention a few. They are constituted of a set of nano-resonators, called meta-atoms, which are projected to locally control the amplitude and phase of the light beam. The objective of this doctorate project is the computational modelling and characterization of metasurfaces for applications in photonic sensors, aiming at experimental implementations with the collaboration of international partners. Photonic sensors are low cost, point of care devices (thus dispensing with the need of laboratories) that play a crucial role in healthcare. They are able to provide real time and in situ diagnosis, which are especially necessary for regions with poor healthcare systems and facilities. Metasurfaces show great potential to improve the performance of the photonic sensors. In this project, they will be developed for applications in devices that rely on the variation of the refractive index as the sensing mechanism, aiming to improve their sensitivity and robustness. More specifically, the project will explore the so called Bound States in the Continuum, which have been receiving notorious attention from the scientific community due to the opportunity of obtaining photonic cavities with very high quality factors. (AU)