Prof. Dr. Stefanie Kroker (LENA und Institut für Halbleitertechnik, TU Braunschweig; und PTB)

Metasurfaces in Precision Experiments – Developments and Perspectives

Optical metamaterials provide a fascinating platform to tailor light fields in virtually arbitrary  manner. Particularly  in  the field of high-precision optical metrology and quantum technology metamaterials and metasurfaces give promise to overcome the limitations of conventional bulk optics. On the one hand, they allow the integration of even complex optical functionalities into compact and robust devices enabling scalable systems e.g. for chip-based quantum computing. On the other hand, the spatial control of optical near fields by metamaterials enables the control of light-matter interaction. This capability is particularly important for optical atomic clocks and gravitational wave detectors, which are the most precise experiments ever developed by mankind [2,3]. These  systems are crucially limited in their performance by the  optomechanical interaction of light fields with optical components. Metasurfaces with dedicated near-field distributions  can elevate their sensitivity to the next level and thereby  giving access to fundamental phenomena such as the change of fundamental constants, dark matter or the big bang [2-5].
In this presentation, we give an overview on the development and  possibilities of metamaterials for applications in precision optical experiments. We explain important physical  phenomena  of  light-matter interaction and illustrate the role of material properties in these experiments.  
 
References
[1]  A. S. Solntsev, G. S. Agarwal, Y. S. Kivshar, Nature Photonics 15 (2021)  
[2]  B. Sathyaprakash et al., Class. Quantum Grav. 124013 (2012)
[3]  D. G. Matei et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 118 (2017)  
[4]  J. Dickmann, S. Kroker, Physical Review D 98 (2018)
[5]  S. Kroker, J. Dickmann, C. B. Rojas Hurtado, D. Heinert, R. Nawrodt, Y. Levin, S. P. Vyatchanin, Physical Review D 96 (2017)