Nano-Optics: From Classical to Quantum · UltraSpecT

Course Contents

Fifteen lectures leading from classical nano-optics through the semiclassical description of light–matter coupling to a fully quantum treatment of light at the nanoscale. Click any topic to see what it covers.

Classical

Why optics changes below the diffraction limit. Length and time scales of nano-optics, the role of evanescent fields, and an overview of the experimental toolbox used throughout the course.

Diffraction limitLength scalesOverview

Maxwell's equations in matter, angular spectrum representation, total internal reflection and the physical meaning of imaginary wavevectors. Foundation for near-field optics.

MaxwellAngular spectrumNear field

Lorentz and Drude models, interband transitions, Kramers–Kronig relations, and how optical constants of real materials are measured and tabulated.

DrudeLorentzKramers–Kronig

Surface plasmon polaritons at flat interfaces, localized plasmons in nanoparticles, dispersion and field confinement, and applications from sensing to nano-antennas.

SPPLSPRNano-antennas

Guided and leaky modes in slabs, fibres and photonic-crystal waveguides. Mode dispersion, group velocity and the concept of quasi-bound states in the continuum.

WaveguidesLeaky modesDispersion

Fast electrons as broadband, nanometre-sized probes of optical excitations. EELS and CL signal formation, the photonic local density of states, and their use in electron microscopy.

EELSCathodoluminescenceLDOS

Aperture and scattering-type SNOM, tip–sample coupling, background suppression and demodulation, and how amplitude and phase of the near field are reconstructed.

SNOMs-SNOMTip coupling

Semiclassical

Classical fields driving quantized matter: two-level systems, Rabi oscillations, the rotating-wave approximation and the limits of the semiclassical picture.

Two-level systemRabiRWA

Open-system dynamics with the density matrix: populations versus coherences, T₁ and T₂, optical Bloch equations, and Rabi oscillations damped by dephasing in realistic nanostructures.

Density matrixRabi oscillationsBloch equationsDecoherence

From weak to strong coupling: Purcell enhancement, vacuum Rabi splitting, exciton–plasmon polaritons and the design of cavities that reach the strong-coupling regime.

Strong couplingRabi splittingPurcell

PINEM and electron energy-comb formation, coherent electron wave-packet shaping by optical near fields, and attosecond electron pulse trains in ultrafast electron microscopy.

PINEMWave-packet shapingUTEM

Quantum

Quantization of the electromagnetic field, mode operators, vacuum fluctuations and the Casimir and Lamb effects as physical consequences.

Field operatorsVacuum fluctuationsCasimir

Fock, coherent and squeezed states, photon statistics and g²(τ), quadrature representation and Wigner functions, homodyne and Hanbury Brown–Twiss detection.

Fock statesSqueezingg²(τ)

Single-photon emitters, photon blockade, entanglement and quantum interference in plasmonic and dielectric nanostructures, and quantum plasmonics.

Single photonsEntanglementQuantum plasmonics

Current frontiers: topological photonics, free-electron quantum optics, 2D-material polaritons, metasurfaces and machine-learning-based inverse design of nanophotonic structures.

Topological photonicsFree electronsInverse design

Nano-Optics From Classical to Quantum (Hybrid)

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