In this webinar, Michele Cotrufo will first introduce the basic concepts behind metamaterial-based analog image processing and edge detection, then provide an overview of the latest experimental implementations and discuss the limitations and trade-offs of current approaches. Dr. Cotrufo will identify key figures of merit to optimize to make this paradigm technologically competitive in realistic scenarios and then showcase recent results from the Photonics Initiative at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center aimed at addressing these issues. In particular, Dr. Cotrufo will show how a simple one-layer metasurface can optimally perform isotropic 2D edge detection over a broad operational bandwidth and for any input polarization, while simultaneously maintaining a high numerical aperture and large efficiency. Moreover, Dr. Cotrufo will demonstrate how tailoring the polarization response of the metasurface allows us to unlock additional degrees of freedom, such as the capability of selectively enhancing certain parts of the image based on their orientations.

In the last part of the webinar, Dr. Cotrufo will discuss several promising future directions of this field, including the opportunities for more complex image processing techniques, such as spatio-temporal differentiation.

Subject Matter Level: Introductory - Assumes little previous knowledge of the topic

What You Will Learn:
• How metamaterials can be used to perform mathematical operations in analog passive devices.
• What are the main limitations and trade-offs of current approaches.
• How we and other groups are trying to overcome these issues, and what are the next opportunities for this field.

Who Should Attend: 

• PhD students interested in optics and photonics
• Research scientists and engineers in the field of optical metasurfaces, optical systems and analog computation

About the Presenter: Michele Cotrufo from the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center

Michele Cotrufo is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Photonics Initiative at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center, in New York City. He received a BS and a MS degree in Physics from University of Bari, Italy (2010) and University of Padova, Italy (2012), respectively. He then joined the Department of Applied Physics at the Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) as a doctoral student, where he investigated novel light-matter interactions in nanophotonics and hybrid optomechanical systems. After graduating in 2017, he performed postdoctoral research at the University of Texas at Austin. His current research interests span over a broad range of areas, including nonlinear phenomena in classical and quantum electromagnetic systems, nonreciprocal wave propagation, spontaneous emission control with plasmonic and dielectric metamaterials, and optical metasurfaces. In 2018, he was awarded a two-year Rubicon fellowship from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).