Our group was established in September, 2006, by members of Laboratory of Nonlinear Optics of Nanostructures and Photonic Crystals (Dr. A.A. Fedyanin and Dr. T.V. Dolgova) and of Laboratory of Scanning Probe Microscopy (Dr. A.A. Ejov) for development of new directions at the Department of Quantum Electronics, Faculty of Physics. Main activities of the group relate to the nanophotonics and nano-optics of different types of nanostructures including metamaterials. Six main research directions can be specified:

• Magnetoplasmonics in nanostructures and metamaterials. This direction is targeted on fabrication of ordered two-dimensional magnetic nanostructures possessing enhancement of magneto-optical response in the desired spectral region due to the resonance of local and propagating surface plasmons. The objects of the study are ordered magnetophotonic nanostructures with quadratic and hexagonal lattice of nanoholes with parameters, optimized for observation of resonances in optical near-field and effect of extraordinary optical transmission, and composite two-dimensional magnetic nanogranular films.
• Nanoplasmonics in nanostructures and metamaterials. The main goal of the direction is formulated as experimental observation and comprehensive study of excitation, enhancement, and ultrafast dynamics of plasmon polaritons in artificial nanostructures and metamaterials, including chiral ones.
• Nanophotonics in optical tweezers. The main basic problems to be solved within this direction concern an understanding of elementary optical processes in properly designed optically isolated single nanoparticles in the near-field resonance and the development of new experimental technique of optical tweezers for optical isolation and manipulation of individual and coupled trapped nanoparticles. Physics of single and coupled metallic and dielectric nanoparticles having specific functional properties, e.g. fluorescent, paramagnetic and superapamagnetic, for performing enhanced Raman spectroscopic imaging with a superior spatial resolution and specific molecular targeting. Development of the methods of nanoparticle assembling in ordered nanostructures using optical manipulation and studies of the structures and optical response of such nanostructures
• Near-field optical studies of plasmonic nanostructures and metamaterials. Research tasks within this direction include scanning near-field optical microscopy, spectroscopy and polarimetry of chiral and magnetic metamaterials, experimental studies of local distribution of intensity and polarization state of light localized in the vicinity of chiral-shaped nanoholes and their spectral dependence, investigation of the subwavelength localization and local enhancement of the optical electromagnetic field including the differences caused by the different polarization.
• Magnetophotonics in nanostructures and photonic crystals. Within this direction the magneto-optical effects and their relations to nanomagnetism has to be studied. Utilizing photonic band gap effects and multiple reflection interference for enhancement of Faraday and Kerr rotation due to the light nonreciprocity in magnetic media.
• Ultrafast dynamics of optical response of nanostructures and metamaterials. Studies of ultrafast dynamics of plasmon excitation in photonic nanostructures ad metamaterials using femtosecond time-resolved optical spectroscopy. The use of the femtosecond pulse splitted at the pump and probe pulses with controllable delay between them allows studying dynamics of plasmonic excitation and propagation with at the time scale from 100 fs to 1 ns. Development of time-resolved near-field scanning optical microscopy technique for studying dynamics of the plasmonic excitation and plasmonic interactions in metamaterials with high spatial and temporal resolution

Facilities available in the group:

• scanning near-field optical microscope;
• atomic-force microscope;
• setup for laser spectroscopy using nanosecond tunable laser system;
• femtosecond laser system;
• home-made optical tweezers;
• setup for magneto-optical spectroscopy.