Related papers: Structured Optical Materials Controlled by Light
The advent of two-dimensional metamaterials in recent years has ushered in a revolutionary means to manipulate the behavior of light on the nanoscale. The effective parameters of these architected materials render unprecedented control over…
Active materials are capable of converting free energy into mechanical work to produce autonomous motion, and exhibit striking collective dynamics that biology relies on for essential functions. Controlling those dynamics and transport in…
Reciprocal spin-orbit coupling (SOC) via geometric phase with flat optics provides a promising platform for shaping and controlling paraxial structured light. Current devices, from the pioneering q-plates to the recent J-plates, provide…
We study the steering of visible light using a combination of magneto-optical effects and the reconfigurability of magnetic domains in Yttrium-Iron Garnet films. The spontaneously formed stripe domains are used as a field-controlled optical…
Light is extensively used to steer the motion of atoms in free space, enabling cooling and trapping of matter waves through ponderomotive forces and Doppler-mediated photon scattering. Likewise, light interaction with free electrons has…
Photonic components responsive to external optical stimuli are attracting increasing interest, because their properties can be manipulated by light with fast switching times, high spatial definition, and potentially remote control. These…
Structured light has been created by a myriad of near- and far-field techniques and has found both classical and quantum applications. In the case of orbital angular momentum (OAM), continuous spiral phase patterns in dynamic or geometric…
Tailoring the degrees of freedom (DoF) of light for a desired purpose, so-called structured light, has delivered numerous advances over the past decade, ranging from communications and quantum cryptography to optical trapping, and…
High-power structured light has a wide range of applications, from material processing and high-capacity optical communications to programmable electron beams, plasmas, and nuclear states. On-demand generation of structured light and…
Exciting electrons in solids with intense light pulses offers the possibility of generating new states of matter through nonthermal means and controlling their macroscopic properties on femto- to picosecond timescales. One way to manipulate…
In the field of optomechanics, radiation forces have provided a particularly high level of control over the frequency and dissipation of mechanical elements. Here we propose a class of optomechanical systems in which light exerts a…
This thesis describes experimental work on the use of wavefront shaping to steer light through strongly scattering materials. We find that scattering does not irreversibly scramble the incident wave. By shaping the incident wavefront, we…
Natural organisms can convert environmental stimuli into sensory feedback to regulate their body and realize active adaptivity. However, realizing such a feedback-regulation mechanism in synthetic material systems remains a grand challenge.…
The optical binding of many particles has great potential to achieve the wide-area formation of a "crystal" of small materials. Unlike conventional optical binding, where the whole assembly of targeted particles is irradiated with light, if…
Light modulation is an essential operation in photonics and optoelectronics. With existing and emerging technologies increasingly demanding compact, efficient, fast and broadband optical modulators, high-performance light modulation…
Metamaterials are artificially created media, which allow introducing additional degrees of freedom into electromagnetic design by controlling constitutive material parameters. Reconfigurable time-dependent metamaterials can further enlarge…
The Raman effect -- inelastic scattering of light by lattice vibrations (phonons) -- produces an optical response closely tied to a material's crystal structure. Here we show that resonant optical excitation of IR and Raman phonons gives…
The interaction of light with optical and mechanical systems is influenced by material properties, geometrical configurations, and surface topographies. Designing these systems necessitates a careful balance of conflicting requirements,…
We explore optical manipulation of sculpted light based on phase dependent electromagnetically induced transparency through a five level atomic system. A transverse magnetic field (TMF) and a suitable spatially inhomogeneous control field…
Optical tweezers employing forces produced by light underpin important manipulation tools in many areas of applied and biological physics. Conventional optical tweezers are based on refractive optics, and they require excessive auxiliary…