Related papers: Structured Optical Materials Controlled by Light
Electronic matter waves traveling through the weak and smoothly varying disorder potential of a semi-conductor show branching behavior instead of a smooth spreading of flow. By transferring this phenomenon to optics, we show how the…
We predict and experimentally verify an entoptic phenomenon through which humans are able to perceive and discriminate structured light with space-varying polarization. Direct perception and discrimination is possible through the…
The scientific community has witnessed tremendous expansion of research on layered (i.e. two-dimensional, 2D) materials, with increasing recent focus on applications to photonics. Layered materials are particularly exciting for manipulating…
Recent experiments have revealed ultrastrong coupling between light and matter as a promising avenue for modifying material properties, such as electrical transport, chemical reaction rates, and even superconductivity. Here, we explore…
Living things enact control of non-equilibrium, dynamical structures through complex biochemical networks, accomplishing spatiotemporally-orchestrated physiological tasks such as cell division, motility, and embryogenesis. While the exact…
Elaborating reliable and versatile strategies for efficient light coupling between free space and thin films is of crucial importance for new technologies in energy efficiency. Nanostructured materials have opened unprecedented…
Rapid modulation of the electromagnetic response in both time and space creates temporal boundaries in the medium and leads to time-reflection and time-refraction of light and to the eventual formation of the photonic time crystal within…
Defects play an important role in a number of fields dealing with ordered structures. They are often described in terms of their topology, mutual interaction and their statistical characteristics. We demonstrate theoretically and…
Elastic metamaterials are often designed for a single permanent function. We explore the possibility of altering a material's function repeatedly through a self-organization, "training" process, controlled by applied strains. We show that…
Shaping and steering of light beams is essential in many modern applications, ranging from optical tweezers, camera lenses, vision correction to 3D displays. However, current realisations require increasingly greater tunability and aim for…
Ultrafast manipulation of vibrational coherence is an emergent route to control the structure of solids. However, this strategy can only induce long-range correlations and cannot modify atomic structure locally, which is required in many…
Unique and flexible properties of non-Hermitian photonic systems attract ever-increasing attention via delivering a whole bunch of novel optical effects and allowing for efficient tuning light-matter interactions on nano- and microscales.…
Transformation optics (TO) is a new tool for controlling electromagnetic fields. In the context of metamaterial technology, it provides a direct link between a desired electromagnetic (EM) phenomenon and the material response required for…
A comprehensive approach for simulating lasing dynamics in a liquid crystal based laser is presented. The approach takes into account the transformation of the liquid crystal structure caused by applied voltage. In particular, it allows us…
Self-healing of light refers to the ability of a light field to recover its structure after being damaged by a partial obstruction placed in its propagation path. Here, we will give a comprehensive review of the history and development of…
Techniques to mold the flow of light on subwavelength scales enable fundamentally new optical systems and device applications. The realization of programmable, active optical systems with fast, tunable components is among the outstanding…
We show that the polarization state of coherent light propagating through an optically thick multiple-scattering medium, can be controlled by wavefront shaping, i.e. by controlling only the spatial phase of the incoming field with a spatial…
We find exact conditions for the enhancement or suppression of internal and/or scattered fields and the determination of their spatial distribution or angular momentum through the combination of simple fields. The incident fields can be…
The direct writing using a focused electron beam allows for fabricating truly three-dimensional structures of sub-wavelength dimensions in the visible spectral regime. The resulting sophisticated geometries are perfectly suited for studying…
Liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are shape-changing materials that exhibit large deformations in response to applied stimuli. Local control of the orientation of LCEs spatially directs the deformation of these materials to realize…