Prof. Dr. Ortwin HESS​

Professor Ortwin Hess, Imperial College Lonon, United Kingdom

Ortwin Hess, Imperial College London, is visiting the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy in July 2012. During his stay he will give one lecture. Professor Ortwin Hess holds the Leverhulme Chair in Metamaterials in the Department of Physics at Imperial College London and is Co-Director of the Centre for Plasmonics & Metamaterials.

Together with my group I am delighted to have made pioneering contributions to the theory of slow and stopped light in metamaterials (the 'Trapped Rainbow', Nature, 15 Nov 2007 and several subsequent publications in Nature), to (ultrafast) spatio-temporal dynamics and quantum fluctuations of semiconductor, quantum dot and fibre lasers as well as to the quantum theory of temperature on the nano-scale.

My research brings together a broad range of theoretical approaches and computatioal techniques. In my group, a large variety of advanced computational methods and simulation tools are developed and used on parallel high-performance computing platforms at the College. On the basis of analytical theories and 'computational experiments' we strive to explore the rich physics of metamaterials, complex nano- and soft photonic systems, light-matter interaction under extreme conditions and novel lasers to harness the quantum nature of electrons and photons on the nano-scale and ultrafast timescales.

Research Interests:

  • metamaterials
  • nano-plasmonics
  • computational photonics

website of Ortwin HessExternal link

Lecture: Nano-Plasmonics with Gain: From Light Localisation to Ultrafast Nano-Lasers

Time: July 19, 2012, 13:30
Place: Institute of Applied Physics, Seminar Room, Albert-Einstein-Str. 15, 07745 Jena

Optical metamaterials and nanoplasmonics bridge the gap between conventional optics and the nanoworld. Exciting and technologically important capabilities range from subwavelength focussing to stopped light, with applications across science and engineering from biophotonics to nanocircuitry. A problem that has hampered practical implementations have been dissipative metal losses, but the efficient use of optical gain has been shown to compensate these and to allow for loss-free operation, amplification and nanoscopic lasing. In this lecture I will give an overview of recently developed theoretical and computational concepts describing the complex spatio-temporal interaction between plasmons, quantum fluctuations and gain media on the nanoscale and examine recent experimental efforts in areas such as nano-plasmonic and metamaterial lasers [1]. The lecture will then chart the way towards active light localization and integrated ultrafast nano-lasing in active nanoplasmonic structures and metamaterials building on the possibility of loss-compensation [2] and amplification [3] on the materials level and elucidate the quantum fluctuations [4] and ultrafast spatio-temporal lasing dynamics of bright and 'dark' light [5].
 
References
[1]    O Hess et al., Nature Materials 11, 573 (2012).
[2]    S Wuestner, A Pusch, KL Tsakmakidis. JM Hamm and O Hess, Phys Rev Lett 105, 127401 (2010).
[3]    J M Hamm, S Wuestner, K L Tsakmakidis and O Hess, Phys Rev Lett 107, 167405 (2011).
[4]    A Pusch, S Wuestner, J M Hamm, K L Tsakmakidis and O Hess, ACS Nano 6, 2420 (2012)
[5]    S Wuestner, et al., Phys Rev B 85, 201406 (R) (2012).