Research interests
Nonlinear optical phenomena in nanophotonics
Nonlinear interactions between light and matter gives rise to a broad variety of
fascinating optical phenomena (such as frequency mixing processes, solitons, self-focusing...).
Many of these properties can be applied to create systems in which the flow of light is
controlled by light itself. This kind of structures could be the basis for
developing practical all-optical signal processing systems. My research in this area
focuses on exploring novel fundamental ways of enhancing different types of nonlinear
processes in nano and micro photonic structures, such as photonic crystals.
Extraordinary transmission of light
Light transmission through a periodic or a quasiperiodic array of
subwavelength apertures milled in metallic film can be much greater
than what is predicted by the standard diffraction theory. This
phenomenon, referred to as Extraordinary Optical Transmission, is
drawing a great deal of attention, due to its fundamental and applied
interest. My research in this field has been mainly focused on demonstrating that
finite size effects are crucial in order to understand completely extraordinary
transmission properties. To study this problem, we have developed a rather general
theoretical formalism able to treat even thousands of indentations (holes, dimples, slits,...)
placed at arbitrary positions in a metallic screen.
Atom optics
Nanophotonic structures offer novel ways of creating optical potentials
to confine and guide cold atoms. This kind of systems can be used to
develop atom chips: systems in which matter waves can be controlled on the surface of
a chip; much in the same way as currently occurs with light in photonic integrated devices.
Recently, we have shown that photonic crystal waveguides can be used to create a
new class of on-chip optical waveguides for Bose-Einstein condensates.