The Vectorial Nano-imaging research line starts its activity at the Center for Nano Science and Technology of IIT in Milano in September 2019.
With the external support of several competitive grants [European Research Council] (ERC consolidator grant METAmorphoses and Proof of Concept MetaCam); IDEAS project from the [European Space Agency] the research is oriented towards different Nanophotonics activities that, although diverse, interestingly contaminate each other in the lab.
Structured light by means of dielectric optical metasurfaces – After introducing the first dielectric metasurface q-plate [Optics Express 25, 377 (2016)] and the metasurface J-plate for the most general spin to orbital angular momentum conversion [Science 358, 896 (2017)] while at Harvard University, Ambrosio’s group recently realized arrays of Orbital Angular momentum lasers. In a recent paper [Nature Photonics 16, 359 (2022)] they show 100 coupled lasers carrying orbital angular momentum. More interestingly, the laser network is tuned through the topological charge of the lasers. Spatial and temporal structuring of light [Nature Photonics 17, 822 (2023), Science Advances 11:eadr6678 (2025)] in amplitude, phase and polarization is the goal of this activity.
Scanning Probe Microscopy of polymeric and 2D materials – The Vectorial Nano-imaging group is using Scanning Probe Microscopy to investigate polaritonic waves in 2D materials. With respect to the observation of phonon polaritons that they demonstrated with different optical near-field techniques in the mid-IR [Light: Science and Applications 7:27 (2018); Science Advances 4:eaat7189 (2018); Science Advances 5:eaav8690 (2019)], they have now the possibility to target plason polaritons and excitons in semiconductive 2D materials in the visible and near-IR [Nature Communications 15:9727 (2024)]. Moreover, the group is also complementing optical nano-spectroscopy with mechanical analysis at the nanoscale, on polymers and 2D materials [ACS Nano 16, 7589 (2022), arXiv:2406.02195 (2024)].
Reconfigurable flat optical devices – This is a research that strongly involves the unique characteristic of surface structuring in azobenzene-containing polymers. Antonio Ambrosio discovered and reported the crucial aspects of such phenomenon years ago [Nature Communications 3:989 (2012); Physical Review Letters 110, 146102 (2013)]. The group is now exploiting this possibility to create optical devices that are, in fact, not just tunable but shapeshifting: gratings can tun into lenses and back into gratings, if and when needed [Advanced Materials Interfaces 8, 2101375 (2021); Optics Express 30, 12695 (2022); Laser and Photonics Reviews 16, 2100514 (2022)]. Introducing structured light in the process is the next step to achieve new schemes for several applications, from optics to microfluidics.
