Start

28/09/2023

End

28/02/2026

Status

In progress

HOTMETA

Start

28/09/2023

End

28/02/2026

Status

In progress

HOTMETA

HOT-carrier METasurfaces for Advanced photonics


Hot carriers, i.e. highly energetic electrons and holes in out-of-equilibrium metals and semiconductors, have recently attracted a huge interest in photonics and optoelectronics. However, despite of the vast literature published in the field, an effective exploitation of hot carriers in nanophotonics remains a challenge. The main reason stems from the complexity inherent to hot-carrier phenomena at the nanoscale, involving short lived (picosecond) out-of-equilibrium electronic states with extremely broad (some electron volts) range of energies, in interaction with thermal electronic and phononic baths. Moreover, the nanostructuring entails high sensitivity of the photogeneration rate to the geometrical configuration at the nanoscale. These issues have prevented a thorough design of nanophotonic devices based on hot carriers, demanding for a highly multidisciplinary approach that is still missing.


The HOTMETA project precisely aims at bridging this gap by exploring a frontier at the intersection between nanoscale electromagnetism, hot carrier physics and metamaterials manufacturing.

Publications

A. Schirato, et al. "Pump-Selective Spectral Shaping of the Ultrafast Response in Plasmonic Nanostars", J. Phys. Chem. C, 128, 2551−2560 (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c07267


S. Rotta Loria, et al. "Numerical Modeling of the Ultrafast Plasmonic Response of Titanium Nitride Nanostructures", J. Phys. Chem. C, 128, 19701−19710 (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.4c04932


A. Molinelli, et al. "Last Advances on Hydrogel Nanoparticles Composites in Medicine: An Overview with Focus on Gold Nanoparticles", ChemNanoMat e202300584, 1-13 (2024). DOI: 10.1002/cnma.202300584


A. Schirato, et al. "Quantifying Ultrafast Energy Transfer from Plasmonic Hot Carriers for Pulsed Photocatalysis on Nanostructures", ACS Nano 18, 18933−18947 (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.4c01802


M. Maiuri, A. Schirato, G. Cerullo and G. Della Valle "Ultrafast All-Optical Metasurfaces: Challenges and New Frontiers", ACS Photonics 11, 2888−2905 (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.4c00776


G. Crotti, et al. "Giant ultrafast dichroism and birefringence with active nonlocal metasurfaces", Light: Science & Applications 13:204, 1-11 (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41377-024-01545-8


A. Stefancu, et al. "Impact of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy in Catalysis", ACS Nano 18, 29337−29379 (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.4c06192


F. Habibighahfarokhi, et al. "Nonlinear Dielectric Metasurfaces for Terahertz Applications", Photonics 12, 370, 1-19 (2025). DOI: 10.3390/photonics12040370


Y. Luo, et al. "Visualizing hot carrier dynamics by nonlinear optical spectroscopy at the atomic length scale", Nature Communications 16:4999, 1-9 (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60384-2


G. Crotti, et al. "Ultrafast switching of a metasurface quasi-bound state in the continuum via transient optical symmetry breaking", Light: Science & Applications 14:240, 1-12 (2025).

DOI: 10.1038/s41377-025-01885-z


N. Enea, et al. "Room temperature amplified spontaneous emission in CsPbBr3 polycrystalline thin films in transmission configuration", AIP Advances 15, 025219, 1-9 (2025). DOI: 10.1063/5.0246259

Research labs