Teaching and educational activities

The course is aimed to give an introduction to the concept of how it is possible to manipulate matter with light. We will cover optical tweezers (2018 Nobel prize in Physics), go deeper into the fundamentals of optical forces and torque from the classical and quantum perspectives (e.g. lecture about the LIGO project). Lastly, we will go through the cavity optomechanics and see how it is possible to realize an interplay between phonons and photons. Each topic is supported by unique interesting problems. After this course, each student will gain a nice perspective of the physics behind each effect and will be able to read and analyze related papers about novel discoveries in the field.

Quantum optics studies the properties of light and light-matter interaction from the grounds of modern quantum mechanics. You will learn the basic quantum concepts of photon and polariton, how one can entangle photons, and find out whether one can violate Heisenberg principle. The course aims at giving the students the fundamental picture of quantum optics through the basic problems solving. We will focus on the light properties governed by the quantum nature of light, will go into the deeps of light-matter interaction, and figure out how this interaction can be enhanced in micro- and nanoresonators. The gives overview of the main theoretical models, however the key experimental techniques will be discussed as well.

Plasmonics studies the physical phenomena that occur when light interacts with metallic or heavily doped semiconductor structures. Eigen oscillations of free charge carriers in such structures (plasmons) can freely interact with the external electromagnetic field. This leads to the appearance of plasmon polariton waves which  energy is the sum of the energy of plasmons and the energy of photons. Unlike ordinary electromagnetic waves, plasmon polaritons have strong spatial localization at optical frequencies allowing for developing new types of optoelectronic devices, sensors, and subwavelength lasers. Within the framework of the course, the fundamental principles of the interaction of light with plasma oscillations of matter will be considered as well as more sophisticated methods describing the plasmonic properties of single metal nanoparticles and their arrays.

The main subject under study is the characteristics of the radiation of point sources placed near optical nanostructures. The classical description of the interaction of radiation sources with optical nanostructures is considered, emission properties of the sources interacting with such model objects as layered systems, waveguide structures, nanoparticles and metamaterials are considered; their common features and main differences are discussed. During the course, students must perform numerical calculations of the characteristics of some of the systems under consideration. In the case of the simplest structures, one will have to write their own code in the programming language of their choice, and in the case of more complex structures, one will have to build a numerical model in one of the software packages.