Complex Materials

We explore the physics of optical nonlinear conversion in complex materials based on the assembly of metal oxides nanoparticles in disordered, correlated and hierarchical structures.

By employing bottom-up assembling techniques we realize nano- and micro-scale superstructures that we characterize by means of linear and nonlinear optical microscopy/spectroscopy.

We investigate several fundamental aspects of the nonlinear light generation and propagation, from the optical properties of the single nanoparticles to the collective effect given by the geometry.

Our goal is to pave the way to the realization of broadband, on-chip, robust and low cost nonlinear sources.