The Ultrafast Nanophotonics Group investigates the optical properties of artificially created material systems. Modern nanotechnology provides us with new methods for arranging and structuring natural materials down to size of few nanometers to obtain well-defined subwavelength structured composite materials. This opens the path for designing and controlling the optical material properties for certain purposes and particular applications as well as provides a route to a novel integrated design.

In particular the strong interaction of light with plasmonic systems, where the light can excite a collective oscillation of the conduction band electrons in metals, plays a more and more important role in these new materials. In combination with highly concentrated optical fields plasmonic nanostructures have a high potential for ultracompact and ultrafast optical devices.

Our research focusses on the optical properties of nanostructured surfaces and materials that are determined by the chosen geometries and material systems. Here the strong light-matter-interaction gives also rise to interesting nonlinear optical properties as they can be orders of magnitudes stronger than in natural materials, providing new possibilities for all-optical applications and devices.