Noviembre 7, 2025
10:30
Tuning Light at the Nanoscale: From Innovative Materials to Integrated Photonic Chips
Where and when
Date
Noviembre 7, 2025
10:30
Location
Seminario SS6 – Parc Científic de la Universitat de València
Featured speakers
Distinguished Researcher Dra. Elena Pinilla
Leader Photonic and Innovative Nanomaterials Lab at NTC, UPV
Read bio
Dr. Elena Pinilla Cienfuegos is a distinguished researcher at the Centro de Tecnología Nanofotónica (NTC) of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV). With a strong background in physics and scanning probe microscopies, she earned her degree from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and completed her PhD at the Universitat de València, where she investigated molecular-based and two-dimensional materials.
She leads the Photonic and Innovative Nanomaterials Lab at NTC, dedicated to the design, fabrication, and characterization of advanced nanomaterials for integrated photonic applications. Her research combines materials science, nanofabrication, and optical characterization to develop next-generation tunable devices for sensing, energy, and quantum technologies.
Dr. Pinilla-Cienfuegos also serves as Vice President of the Real Sociedad Española de Física (RSEF), and is Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Telecomunicación (ETSIT-UPV). She is actively engaged in science communication and the promotion of gender equality in STEM.
Abstract: The development of reconfigurable and low-power photonic platforms requires new materials and architectures capable of controlling light at the nanoscale. In this seminar, I will present our recent advances toward this goal combining ideas from materials science, nanofabrication, and integrated photonics.
First, I will introduce spin-crossover (SCO) nanomaterials as a promising new class of phase-change materials (PCMs) that enable reversible, stimulus-driven modulation of optical properties. These materials open the way to next-generation tunable photonic devices, including dynamically reconfigurable metasurfaces and bistable, low-power, low-loss optical switches.
Next, I will discuss a deterministic single-step method for nanoparticle positioning based on soft lithography, which allows the precise integration of metallic nanoparticles onto nanophotonic resonators with sub-micron accuracy over large areas. This scalable approach paves the way toward Nanoparticle-on-a-Mirror (NPoM) architectures with reproducible optical responses for on-chip spectroscopy and sensing. In this context, I will then present our advances on NPoM cavities, where molecularly functionalized metallic surfaces enable THz-to-visible upconversion and strong light–matter coupling. These hybrid plasmonic systems are integrated on silicon photonic chips, coupling efficiently to waveguides for on-chip Raman and infrared detection.
