Séminaire

Lundi 9 Mars 2026 à 11h00.

Scattering in Nanophotonic Systems, Where Light Meets Matter

Carsten Rockstuhl
(Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

Salle de séminaires Lippmann

Invité(e) par
Kevin Vynck

présentera en 1 heure :

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The scattering of light is governed by Maxwell’s equations, known for more than 160 years. Analytical solutions for canonical systems, such as the scattering of light by a conductive sphere derived by Lorenz, have been available for over a century. Numerical methods have enabled the study of arbitrarily shaped scatterers for more than five decades. Why, then, does this problem continue to attract attention?

We are (or I am, at least) interested in this topic because there is an ever-increasing complexity in the materials from which scatterers are made. The interplay between shape and materials enables ever-increasing control over light-matter interactions. Understanding and predicting that interplay is a worthwhile endeavor for deepening our fundamental understanding of nature and for developing tangible technology. At the same time, modern algebraic, computational, and data-driven methods, emerging alongside machine learning, open new pathways for analyzing, designing, and optimizing scattering systems.

In this talk, I review recent developments in this field, shamelessly biased, of course, towards our own contributions. Topics include spatiotemporal photonic materials, the interaction between molecular systems and photonic scatterers (including a revised perspective on strong coupling), and model- and data-driven approaches for the inverse design of structures with tailored optical responses.

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