Stipendiatstilling 1 SINTEF (2021-2023)

Metasurfaces are about to revolutionize the way we make optics. By use of numerical calculations it is now possible to design nanostructured surfaces with special optical properties, for example a 1 micrometer (one thousandth of a mm) thin chip which acts as a lens, where you previously would need a precisely polished glass lens with a thickness of several millimeters. This type of structures can additionally be fabricated with the same technology and processes that have been developed to make electronics, and this way they are enabling optical lenses and components that are cheaper, lighter and more compact than conventional optics, in addition to components and systems with new functionality. The last couple of years there has been a lot of research into how to make metasurfaces with adjustable properties, for example lenses that can change focal length or components that can steer a laser beam. In this project we are making dynamic metasurfaces by combining metasurfaces with micro- electromechanical systems, which are very small mechanical systems that can be controlled by varying electrical voltages. By adjusting the separation between a mirror and an array of gold nanostructures we have for example demonstrated that we can turn on and off the optical properties of a metasurface. The developments conducted in this PhD will now be continued in the EIC Pathfinder OPTIPATH project, which aims at applying advanced adaptive metasurface technologies towards current challenges in histopathology: (1) Time-consuming tissue sample preparation, (2) Interobserver variability of diagnosis.

PhD-arbeidet har bidratt til en imponerende liste av forskningsartikler i høythengende tidsskrift samt flere patenter. I kraft av PhD-graden har SINTEF MiNaLab kunnet etablere et nært samarbeid med det Syddanske Universitetet, som har ført til tildelingen av EU-prosjektene ATTRACT MetaHiLight (cascade HO2020) og EIC Pathfinder OPTIPATH, som har som mål å utvikle optiske verktøy til medisinsk diagnostikk av vev.