Theory of Metamaterials and Light

Metamaterials are the key to perfect lenses, 'invisibility' and acoustic cloaks and slow and stopped broadband light. Promoting an extreme control of light they empower novel ultrafast and nano-photonic phenomena, forming the basis for quantum plasmonics, extreme light-matter interaction and innovative nano-photonic lasers.

We study the physics of nano-plasmonic metamaterials, research new ways how they can be realized, investigate the (ultrafast) nonlinear and quantum dynamics of nano-plasmonic and nano-photonic materials and components with gain and strive to bring metamaterials towards new realms of applications in information and laser technology, nanophotovoltaics and the bio-medical sciences. 

• Active nanoplasmonic metamaterials
• Semiconductor quantum metamaterials
• Self-organised (chiral) metamaterials
• Slow and stopped light
• Noise and quantum fluctuations in nano-plasmonics
• Nanolasers
• Metamaterial lasers
• Quantum-dot lasers
• Quantum plasmonics
• Control of complex spatio-temporal dynamics
• Ultrafast active plasmonics
• Nanophotovoltaics
• Nano-plasmonic and gap waveguides
• Extreme nonlinear ultrafast photonics

Short Biography

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.

Ortwin studied physics at the University of Erlangen and the Technical University of Berlin. Following pre- and post-doctoral times in Edinburgh and at the University of Marburg Ortwin has been (from 1995 to 2003) Head of the Theoretical Quantum Electronics Group at the Institute of Technical Physics in Stuttgart, Germany. He has a Habilitation in Theoretical Physics at the University of Stuttgart (1997) and became Adjunct Professor in 1998. Since 2001 he is Docent of Photonics at Tampere University of Technology in Finland. Ortwin has been Visiting Professor at Stanford University (1997 - 1998) and the University of Munich (2000 - 2001). From 2003-2010 he held the Chair of Theoretical Condensed Matter and Optical Physics in the Department of Physics and the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK where he is now a Visiting Professor. 

Research Interests

My research interests and activities are focused on metamaterials, nano-plasmonics and computational photonics.

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. 

MRes in Plasmonics & Metamaterials

 The 12-months MRes in Plasmonics & Metamaterials at Imperial College London is now accepting applications.