Optical metasurfaces enable control of the phase, polarization, and amplitude of optical wavefronts with high spatial resolution that can be difficult to achieve via other means. This opens the possibility of developing new imaging devices that provide various advantages in terms of size and multi-functionality compared to conventional optical systems. Dr. Faraon discuss various imaging techniques that his group has demonstrated using dielectric metasurfaces including multi-spectral imaging using folded metasurface optics and quantitative phase imaging that enable label-free imaging of transparent bio-samples.
Miniaturization of these imaging systems will extend their potentials in multiple applications including biomedical and consumer electronics. Making these capabilities dynamic would open a wide range of applications related to LIDAR, ranging, object recognition, etc. Unfortunately, most tuning methods rely on small changes in refractive index, that require metasurface structures with high quality factor resonances that are very sensitive to fabrication imperfections and are hard to control. One method that does not require such high-quality resonances is based on nano-electro-mechanics. Dr. Faraon presents his group’s recent efforts in developing nano-electro-mechanical metasurfaces based on multi-mode interference. These metasurfaces are used for optical beam deflection and for controlling the chiral properties.
About the Presenter
Dr. Andrei Faraon is a Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering at California Institute of Technology. After earning a B.S. degree in physics with honours in 2004 at California Institute of Technology, he received his M.S. in Electrical Engineering and PhD in Applied Physics both from Stanford University in 2009. From 2009 to 2012 he was a postdoctoral fellow at Hewlett Packard Laboratories. During his PhD he was involved in seminal quantum optics experiments using single semiconductor quantum dots coupled to photonic crystal resonators. At HP, he pioneered quantum nano-photonic devices in single crystal diamond coupled to colour centres.
Dr. Faraon left HP in 2012 for a faculty position at Caltech where he works on nano-photonic technologies for both classical and quantum applications including optically addressable quantum bits, optical quantum memories, microwave to optical quantum transduction, metasurfaces, and metamaterials for multi-functional imaging applications.
Dr. Faraon is the recipient of the 2018 Adolph Lomb Medal of the Optical Society of America (OSA) that recognizes a noteworthy contribution to optics made by a researcher who is still early in his or her career and was elected as OSA Fellow in 2020. He was also awarded the 2015 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the 2015 Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award, and the 2016 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award.