PLASMONICS AND OPTOMECHANICS

This research line is mainly focused on the design and characterization of advanced micro- and nano-photonic devices based on plasmonic nanostructures and other complex electromagnetic structures. Plasmonic nanostructures are made of metals, and thus they allow for overcoming the diffraction limit and achieving light manipulation at subwavelength scales. Our final goal is to implement plasmonic micro- and nano-structures on silicon photonics circuits, therefore making use of the fabrication facilities available at NTC.
But not only plasmonic nanostructures can improve the performance of current state-of-the-art silicon photonic chips. Recently, optomechanics has revealed itself as a research hot-topic since it provides adequate mechanisms to make light and sound interact at the nanoscale. In our group, we deal with optomechanical cavities built on silicon chips to manipulate GHz vibrations optically with the final aim of getting ultra-compact microwave photonic circuitry on silicon.
The new research line in the process of consolidation is the development of graphene on non-catalytic substrates for hybrid silicon-graphene photonics. A key challenge to address is to develop wafer scale growth, transfer and nanofabrication protocols providing high mobility devices (over 5,000 cm2V-1s-1) with device-to-device reproducibility and high throughput. We are developing a flow for the integration of monocrystalline graphene in photonics circuits, either by a growth-transfer or by a direct-growth approach. We are focused on the growth of graphene on technologically relevant substrates, mainly sapphire, silicon-on-insulator (SOI), and germanium.
We are convinced that the integration of plasmonic and optomechanical components as well as graphene onto silicon-photonics chips is a key step towards future nanophotonic chips, which is a goal pursued in our research line. Envisaged applications include all-optical signal processing, microwave photonics, nanospectroscopy, and chemo-bio-sensing.
- Enhanced excitation and readout of plasmonic cavity modes in NPoM via SiN waveguides for on-chip SERS
J. E. Vázquez-Lozano, J. J. Baumberg, and A. Martínez
Optics Express, Vol. 30, pp. 4553-4563, 2022.
- Room-temperature silicon platform for GHz-frequency nano-electro-opto-mechanical systems
D. Navarro-Urrios, M. F. Colombano, G. Arregui, G. Madiot, A. Pitanti, A. Griol, T. Makkonen, J. Ahopelto, C. M. Sotomayor-Torres and A. Martínez
ACS Photonics, vol. 9, pp. 413-419, 2022.
- Thermal Properties of Nanocrystalline Silicon Nanobeams
J. Maire, E. Chavez-Angel, G. Arregui, M. F. Colombano, N. E. Capuj, A. Griol, A. Martínez, D. Navarro-Urrios, J. Ahopelto, C. M. Sotomayor-Torres
Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 32, 2105767, 2022.
- Injection locking in an optomechanical coherent phonon source
G. Arregui, M. F. Colombano, J. Maire, A. Pitanti, N. E. Capuj, A. Griol, A. Martínez, C. M. Sotomayor-Torres, D. Navarro-Urrios
Nanophotonics, Vol. 10, pp. 1319–1327, 2021.
- Vertical Engineering for Large Brillouin Gain in Unreleased Silicon-Based Waveguides
Physical Review Applied, Vol. 15, 034021, 2021.
- Interfering Plasmons in Coupled Nanoresonators to Boost Light Localization and SERS
A. Xomalis, X. Zheng, A. Demetriadou, A. Martínez, R. Chikkaraddy, J. J. Baumberg
Nano Letters, Vol. 21, pp. 2512–2518, 2021.
- Floquet Phonon Lasing in Multimode Optomechanical Systems
L. Mercadé, K. Pelka, R. Burgwal, A. Xuereb, A. Martínez, E. Verhagen
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 127, 073601, 2021. - Radiationless anapole states in on-chip photonics
E. Díaz-Escobar, T. Bauer , E. Pinilla-Cienfuegos, Á. I. Barreda, A. Griol, L. Kuipers, A. Martínez
Light: Science & Applications, Vol. 10, 204, 2021.
- Photonic Frequency Conversion of OFDM Microwave Signals in a Wavelength-Scale Optomechanical Cavity
L. Mercadé, M. Morant, A. Griol, R. Llorente, A. Martínez
Laser and Photonics Reviews, Vol. 15, 2100175, 2021.
- Performance improvement of a silicon nitride ring resonator biosensor operated in the TM mode at 1310 nm
L. Castelló-Pedrero, M. I. Gómez-Gómez, J. García-Rupérez, A. Griol, A. Martínez
Biomedical Optics Express, Vol. 12, pp. 7244-7260, 2021.
- Hybrid photonic-plasmonic cavities based on the nanoparticle-on-a-mirror configuration
Á. I. Barreda, M. Zapata-Herrera, I. M. Palstra, L. Mercadé, J. Aizpurua, A. Femius Koenderink, A. Martínez
Photonics Research, Vol. 9, pp. 2398-2419, 2021.
- Continuous-Wave Frequency Upconversion with a Molecular Optomechanical Nanocavity
W. Chen, P. Roelli, H. Hu, S. Verlekar, S. P. Amirtharaj, A. I. Barreda, T. J. Kippenberg, M. Kovylina, E. Verhagen, A. Martínez, C. Galland
Science, vol. 374, pp. 1264-1267, 2021.
- Detecting mid-infrared light by molecular frequency upconversion with dual-wavelength hybrid nanoantennas
A. Xomalis, X. Zheng, R. Chikkaraddy, Z. Koczor-Benda, E. Miele, E. Rosta, G. A. E. Vandenbosch, A. Martínez, J. J. Baumberg
Science, vol. 374, pp. 1268-1271, 2021.
- High-Frequency Mechanical Excitation of a Silicon Nanostring with Piezoelectric Aluminum Nitride Layers
A. Pitanti, T. Makkonen, M. F. Colombano, S. Zanotto, L. Vicarelli, M. Cecchini, A. Griol, D. Navarro-Urrios, C. Sotomayor-Torres, A. Martínez, J. Ahopelto
Physical Review Applied, Vol. 14, 014054, 2020. - Toward Chiral Sensing and Spectroscopy Enabled by All-Dielectric Integrated Photonic Waveguides
J. E. Vázquez-Lozano, A. Martínez
Laser and Photonics Reviews, Vol. 14, 1900422, 2020.
- Microwave oscillator and frequency comb in a silicon optomechanical cavity with a full phononic bandgap
L. Mercadé, L. L. Martín, A. Griol, D. Navarro-Urrios, A. Martínez
Nanophotonics, Vol. 9, 3535, 2020.
- Dispersive optomechanics of supercavity modes in high-index disks
L. Mercadé, Á. Barreda, A. Martínez
Optics Letters, Vol. 45, pp. 5238-5241, 2020.
- Properties of nanocrystalline silicon probed by optomechanics
D. Navarro-Urrios, M. F. Colombano, J. Maire, E. Chávez-Ángel, G. Arregui, N. E. Capuj, A. Devos, A. Griol, L. Bellieres, A. Martínez, K. Grigoras, T. Häkkinen, J. Saarilahti, T. Makkonen, C. M. Sotomayor-Torres, J. Ahopelto
Nanophotonics, Vol. 9, pp. 4819-4829, 2020.
- Near-Field Unidirectional Excitation … and Beyond
J. E. Vázquez-Lozano, A. Martínez,
Optics and Photonics News, Year in Optics, p. 58, 2019. - Near-Field Directionality Beyond the Dipole Approximation: Electric Quadrupole and Higher-Order Multipole Angular Spectra
J. E. Vázquez-Lozano, A. Martínez, F. J. Rodríguez-Fortuño
Physical Review Applied, vol. 12, 024065, 2019. - SERS Detection via Individual Bowtie Nanoantennas Integrated in Si3N4 Waveguides
J. Losada, A. Raza, S. Clemmen, A. Serrano, A. Griol, R. Baets, A. Martínez
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics on Quantum Electronics, vol. 25, no. 3, 4600806, 2019. - Synchronization of Optomechanical Nanobeams by Mechanical Interaction
M. F. Colombano, G. Arregui, N. E. Capuj, A. Pitanti, J. Maire, A. Griol, B. Garrido, A. Martínez, C. M. Sotomayor-Torres, D. Navarro-Urrios
Physical Review Letters, vol. 123, 017402, 2019. - Generalizing Optical Chirality to an Arbitrary Medium
J. E. Vázquez-Lozano, A. Martínez,
Optics and Photonics News, Year in Optics 29, 2018. - Optical modulation of coherent phonon emission in optomechanical cavities
J. Maire, N. E. Capuj, M. F. Colombano, A. Griol, A. Martinez, C. M. Sotomayor-Torres, D. Navarro-Urrios
APL Photonics 3, 126102, 2018. - Metamaterial Platforms for Spintronic Modulation of Mid-Infrared Response under Very Weak Magnetic Field
G. Armelles, L. Bergamini, N. Zabala, F. García, M. L. Dotor, L. Torné, R. Alvaro, A. Griol, A. Martínez, J. Aizpurua, A. Cebollada
ACS Photonics, Vol. 5, pp. 3956–3961, 2018.
- Optical Chirality in Dispersive and Lossy Media
J. E. Vázquez-Lozano, A. Martínez
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 121, 043901, 2018. - Coherent Control of a Plasmonic Nanoantenna Integrated on a Silicon Chip
A. Espinosa-Soria , E. Pinilla-Cienfuegos, F. J. Díaz-Fernández, A. Griol, J. Martí, A. Martínez
ACS Photonics, Vol. 5, pp. 2712−2717, 2018. - Nanocrystalline silicon optomechanical cavities
D. Navarro-Urrios, N. E. Capuj, J. Maire, M. Colombano, J. Jaramillo-Fernandez, E. Chavez-Angel, L. L. Martín, L. Mercade, A. Griol, A. Martínez, C. M. Sotomayor-Torres, J. Ahopelto
Optics Express, Vol. 26, pp. 9829-9839, 2018. - Classical Emergence of Intrinsic Spin-Orbit Interaction of Light at the Nanoscale
J. E. Vázquez-Lozano, A. Martínez
Physical Review A, Vol. 97, 033804, 2018. - Polarimetry enabled by nanophotonics
A. Martínez
Science, vol. 362, pp. 750-751, 2018 - On-chip optimal Stokes nanopolarimetry based on spin-orbit interaction of light
A. Espinosa-Soria, F. J. Rodríguez-Fortuño, A. Griol, A. Martínez
Nano Letters, Vol. 17, pp. 3139-3144, 2017. - Nonlinear dynamics and chaos in an optomechanical beam
D. Navarro-Urrios, N. E. Capuj, M. F. Colombano, P. D. Garcia, M. Sledzinska, F. Alzina, A. Griol, A. Martínez, C. M. Sotomayor-Torres
Nature Communications, Vol. 8, 14965, 2017. - Fano resonances and electromagnetically induced transparency in silicon waveguides loaded with plasmonic nanoresonators
R. Ortuño, M. Cortijo, A. Martínez
Journal of Optics, Vol. 19, 025003, 2017. - Diffusive-light invisibility cloak for transient illumination
B. Orazbayev, M. Beruete, A. Martínez, C. García-Meca
Physical Review A, Vol. 94, 063850, 2016. - Exploiting metamaterials, plasmonics and nanoantennas concepts in silicon photonics
F. J. Rodríguez-Fortuño, A. Espinosa-Soria, A. Martínez
Topical Review in Journal of Optics, Vol. 18, 123001, 2016. - Experimental measurement of plasmonic nanostructures embedded in silicon waveguide gaps
A. Espinosa-Soria, A. Griol, A. Martínez
Optics Express, Vol. 24, pp. 9592-9601, 2016. - Transverse spin and spin-orbit coupling in silicon waveguides
A. Espinosa-Soria, A. Martínez
IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 28, pp. 1561-1564, 2016. - Lateral forces on circularly polarizable particles near a surface
F. J. Rodríguez-Fortuño, N. Engheta, A. Martínez, A. V. Zayats
Nature Communications, Vol. 6, 879, 2015.
Alejandro Martínez - Group leader
Elena Pinilla Cienfuegos - Postdoctoral researcher
Víctor Jesús Gómez Hernández - Postdoctoral researcher
Laura Mercadé Morales - Postdoctoral researcher
Juan Enrique Vázquez-Lozano - Predoctoral researcher
Evelyn Díaz Escobar - Predoctoral researcher
María Isabel Gómez Gómez - Senior researcher
Javier Redolat Querol - Predoctoral researcher
Diego Safont Safont - Proyectista
Eva Zafra Blázquez - Proyectista
Pepe Ausina Gimeno - Proyectista
María Camarena Pérez - Proyectista
Miguel Sinusia Lozano - Postdoctoral researcher
Francisco Javier Díaz Fernández - Postdoctoral researcher
Former members
- Dr. Francisco José Rodríguez-Fortuño – LinkedIn / Google Scholar