Hybrid photonic designer materials for enhanced light-matter interactions and functional devices
Photonic cavities are man-made resonant structures that can confine light in space, typically in the form of standing waves with certain resonance frequencies. Probably the earliest developed cavity system is a pair of mirrors, termed Fabry–Pérot cavity, which is an indispensable component of lasers and interferometers. While such cavities at the macro-scale are important for many optical devices, they really become shining at the micro- and nanoscale, as exemplified by photonic microcavities made of low-loss dielectric materials and plasmonic nanocavities comprised of resonant metallic nanostructures. In this seminar, I will show our recent discovery of light-induced electromagnetic asymmetry in a single plasmonic nanocavity and its critical role in surface second-harmonic generation. I will then demonstrate that marrying these small-scale photonic cavities with low-dimensional quantum materials can realize several high-performance functional photonic and optoelectronic devices. Finally, I will share my perspectives on unleashing the potential of hybrid cavity-quantum-materials paradigms for single-molecule quantum sensing, quantum light emission and quantum information processing.
Biography:
Dangyuan LEI is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the City University of Hong Kong. He received a PhD degree in Physics from Imperial College London in 2011, with his thesis awarded the prestigious Anne Thorne PhD Thesis Prize. His current research interest centers on plasmonic nanophotonics and low-dimensional quantum materials, with particular interest in the nanoscale cavity-matter interaction and applications in miniaturized photonic and optoelectronic devices for on-chip optical sensing and imaging, energy harvesting, conversion, storage and saving. He has co-authored 210 publications, received 11120 citations and an h-index of 60 (Google Scholar as of September 2023), and given 1 plenary talk, 6 keynote speeches and >100 invited talks. His publications include 8 Nature Communications, 2 Science Advances, 5 NPG Light: Science & Applications, 4 Physical Review Letters, 25 Advanced (Functional/Energy/Optical) Materials, and 25 Nano Letters and ACS Nano etc. Three publications have been highlighted as “Editor’s Choice” of Science (2020) and “Research Highlights” of Nature Materials (2010 & 2011), respectively.
His academic achievements have been recognized by several important awards and honors, including two Gold Medals of Inventions Geneva (2022 & 2023), the representative of Hong Kong for the APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research & Education (ASPIRE, 2021), NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong & Macau, 2020), Shanxi Science and Technology Award (2nd-class, 2021), CityU Outstanding Research Award for Junior Faculty (2021), Rising Star Lectureship in Materials Science from Hong Kong Institute of Advanced Study (2021), RSC Journal of Materials Chemistry A & C Emerging Investigators (2022 & 2016), Wiley EcoMat Young Investigator (2022), Nano Research Young Innovators Award (2020), Distinguished Visitor Award from Scottish University Physics Alliance (2019), Key Technology Partner Visiting Fellow from University of Technology Sydney (2017), and International Exchange award from Royal Society (2016). He is currently an elected member of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences, an OSA Senior Member, a member of SPIE, IOP and PSHK, and a National Science and Technology Expert of MOST
Dangyuan LEI is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the City University of Hong Kong. He received a PhD degree in Physics from Imperial College London in 2011, with his thesis awarded the prestigious Anne Thorne PhD Thesis Prize. His current research interest centers on plasmonic nanophotonics and low-dimensional quantum materials, with particular interest in the nanoscale cavity-matter interaction and applications in miniaturized photonic and optoelectronic devices for on-chip optical sensing and imaging, energy harvesting, conversion, storage and saving. He has co-authored 210 publications, received 11120 citations and an h-index of 60 (Google Scholar as of September 2023), and given 1 plenary talk, 6 keynote speeches and >100 invited talks. His publications include 8 Nature Communications, 2 Science Advances, 5 NPG Light: Science & Applications, 4 Physical Review Letters, 25 Advanced (Functional/Energy/Optical) Materials, and 25 Nano Letters and ACS Nano etc. Three publications have been highlighted as “Editor’s Choice” of Science (2020) and “Research Highlights” of Nature Materials (2010 & 2011), respectively.
His academic achievements have been recognized by several important awards and honors, including two Gold Medals of Inventions Geneva (2022 & 2023), the representative of Hong Kong for the APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research & Education (ASPIRE, 2021), NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong & Macau, 2020), Shanxi Science and Technology Award (2nd-class, 2021), CityU Outstanding Research Award for Junior Faculty (2021), Rising Star Lectureship in Materials Science from Hong Kong Institute of Advanced Study (2021), RSC Journal of Materials Chemistry A & C Emerging Investigators (2022 & 2016), Wiley EcoMat Young Investigator (2022), Nano Research Young Innovators Award (2020), Distinguished Visitor Award from Scottish University Physics Alliance (2019), Key Technology Partner Visiting Fellow from University of Technology Sydney (2017), and International Exchange award from Royal Society (2016). He is currently an elected member of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences, an OSA Senior Member, a member of SPIE, IOP and PSHK, and a National Science and Technology Expert of MOST.