Dr. Nathaniel Kinsey, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA

Dr. Nathaniel Kinsey, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA is going to attend 2nd International Conference on Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology scheduled on May 16-17, 2019 at Prague, Czech Republic.

More details: https://bit.ly/2LNiYuz

Title:Near-Zero-Index Materials: New Avenues in Nonlinear Optics

The unlimited control of the amplitude and phase of a light wave has been a primary goal of optics since its inception. Recently, the advent of nanostructures materials, metamaterials, and metasurfaces have led to new approaches for manipulating the flow of light. However these devices are not as agile as desired because their functionality is generally defined at the time of fabrication. To extend the capabilities of such materials, tunability and dynamic control has been explored with many successes, and one promising candidate for control is nonlinear optics. Traditionally, nonlinear approaches have been difficult to achieve due to the small induced changes to the constituent material, but recent advances in materials have identified several potential platforms which can make photons talk more efficiently.

Here we will discuss and review the recent advances in nonlinear optical processes in near-zero-index materials, such as the doped oxides, including modelling methods and the ever important role of loss. Specifically, these materials have shown the ability to provide exceptional modulation to the nonlinear index (Δn ~ 1) whose sign can be controlled by varying the excitation parameters. This opens the opportunity for a new class of optical surface, one where the functionality is defined entirely through light.