Nanophotonics for efficient light absorption in fast detectors

纳米光子学提供了显著的功能，并使光电器件的效率和性能得到了巨大的提高。特别是，全介电超表面可以通过调整组成超表面的单个元原子的特性来操纵光子的吸收、传输和反射以及发射。该项目将专注于增强光学薄超表面内的光学吸收，同时实现光生电荷载流子传输的挑战。结合这两种功能是高效光电探测器和光电超快开关的关键，用于产生和探测太赫兹（THz）波。利用超表面来改善超快太赫兹探测器的性能，可以改善太赫兹成像和光谱系统的信噪比性能和效率，从而实现更广泛的应用。该项目将涵盖整个器件研究周期，从开发光子结构概念到设计所需特性，再到演示实际应用，并评估开发的技术如何与商业太赫兹技术相结合，以产生更广泛的影响。事实上，目标是实现纳米光子结构的光学和电子特性，以优化探测器操作，作为光谱和成像系统的一部分。

Nanophotonics offers remarkable functionalities and enables vast improvements in the efficiency and performance optoelectronic devices. In particular, all-dielectric metasurfaces enable manipulation of photon absorption, transmission and reflection, as well as emission through tailoring properties of individual meta-atoms that comprise the metasurface. This project will be focused on the challenge of enhancing optical absorption within an optically thin metasurface while at the same time enabling photogenerated charge carrier transport. Combining these two functionalities is key for efficient photodetectors and optoelectronic ultrafast switches for generation and detection of terahertz (THz) waves. Using metasurfaces to improve the performance of ultrafast terahertz detectors could improve the signal-to-noise performance and efficiency of terahertz imaging and spectroscopy systems, enabling a broader range of applications. This Project will encompass the entire device research cycle, from developing the photonic structure concept to engineering the desired properties and to demonstrating practical applications and evaluating how the developed technology can be integrated with commercial THz technologies for broader impact. The objective is in fact to achieve optical and electronic properties of the nanophotonics structure to optimise the detector operation as part of spectroscopy and imaging systems.