Our research stream in Nonlinear optics and Photonics focuses on the behavior of light in complex media where the response of the material to light is nonlinear. In nonlinear optics, the interaction of light with matter is characterized by the dependence of the optical properties of the material on the intensity of the light. This leads to a variety of effects such as frequency conversion, self-focusing, and optical solitons. By combining these nonlinear optical phenoema with nanostructures and photonics waveguides, we can develop new optical devices with advanced functionality for telecommunications, data storage, biophotonics, and quantum information processing.

Topics include:

• Plasmonic waveguides for nanofocusing

• All-optical modulation

• Metasurfaces

• Nonlinear optical characterisation of novel materials

Relavent papers include:

• L. Li, X. Guo, P. Ding, Z. Peng, X. Chen, Y. Li, M. P. Nielsen*, and L. Guo*, “Ultrafast All-Optical Switching in the Visible Spectrum with 6H Silicon Carbide,” ACS Photonics 8, 2940-2946 (2021).

• G. Grinblat*, M. P. Nielsen*, R. F. Oulton, and S. A. Maier, “Ultrafast sub–30-fs all-optical switching based on gallium phosphide,” Science Advances 5, eaaw3262 (2019).

• I. Abdelwahab, P. Dichtl, G. Grinblat, K. Leng, X. Chi, I.-H. Park, M. P. Nielsen, R. F. Oulton, K. P. Loh, and S. A. Maier, “Giant and Tunable Optical Nonlinearity in Single-Crystalline 2D Perovskites due to Excitonic and Plasma Effects,” Advanced Materials 31, 1902685 (2019).

• S. Grandi, M. P. Nielsen, J. Cambiasso, S. Boissier, K. D. Major, C. Reardon, T. F. Krauss, R. F. Oulton, E. A. Hinds, and A. S. Clark, “Hybrid plasmonic waveguide coupling of photons from a single molecule,” APL Photonics 4, 086101 (2019). 

• M. P. Nielsen, X. Shi, P. Dichtl, S. A. Maier, and R. F. Oulton, “Giant nonlinear response at a plasmonic nanofocus drives efficient four-wave mixing,” Science 358, 1179-1181 (2017).

• M. P. Nielsen, L. Lafone, A. Rakovich, T. P. H. Sidiropoulos, M. Rahmani, S. A. Maier, and R. F. Oulton, “Adiabatic nanofocusing in hybrid gap plasmon waveguides on the silicon-on-insulator platform,” Nano Letters 16, 1410–1414 (2016).