Facultad de Ciencias - Edificio A

C/ Pedro Cerbuna, 12, 50009, Zaragoza

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Télefono. 976 76 10 00; ext: 842457

Email. lmm@unizar.es

Web. https://www.qmad.es

I started my doctorate in 1986 at the Autonomous University of Madrid on the subject of Electronic properties of amorphous semiconductors.

During 1989-1992 I was a postdoc at the University of Cambridge (UK) where I studied various problems on mesoscopic transport in two-dimensional electron gases. During 1993-1995 I was a post-doc at the ICMM in Madrid. During this period I often visited the group led by Prof. John Pendry, at Imperial College London (UK), where I began to work on electromagnetic (EM) properties of metallo-dielectric Photonic Crystals.

In 1995 I obtained a permanent position at the University of Zaragoza (Spain).

In 2001 I was co-author of the first theoretical work on Extraordinary Optical Transmission (EOT) through arrays of subwavelength holes in metal films (PRL, 86, 114 (2001)) and since then my main activity has been focused on the field of «nano-photonics». In 2002 I co-discovered that that EOT is possible through single apertures (Science, 297, 820 (2002)). Later we showed (Science, 305, 847 (2004)) that the properties of surface plasmons can be modified and transferred to other spectral regimes by nanostructuring the metal surface.

In addition to the research on EOT and metamaterials, in the first decade of 2000 I have worked on plasmonic waveguides negative refractive index, transformation optics and non-linear optics.

In 2008 I got a position at CSIC as Research Professor. In 2010 I started working on two new lines of research: quantum electrodynamics in waveguides and plasmons in graphene. In the first case, I highlight the study on the entanglement of quantum emitters mediated by plasmonic waveguides (PRL 106, 020501 (2011)), and the study of photon propagation in a waveguide that interacts with a two-level system in the ultra-strong coupling regime (PRL 113, 263604 (2014)) .
In the case of 2D materials, our group has been one of the main leading theoretical groups, with early work on the EM properties of graphene ribbons (PRB, 84, 161407 (2011)), in Black Phosphorus (PRL 113, 106802 (2014)), and in plasmon-enhanced Faraday rotation in graphene nanostructures (Nat. Comm. 8, 14626 (2107)). More recently, I have started a line of research on topological effects in nanophotonics, where I can highlight the work on the breakdown of the bulk-edge correspondence when topological systems are coupled to light (PRL 123, 217401 (2019)).

In 2014 I was selected by Thomson Reuters as Highly Cited Researcher.
In addition I frequently participate in outreach activities. In 2003 I co-organized the first International Congress on “Surface Plasmon Photonics”. And, every year for the last 10 years, I have co-organized international workshops on Nano-photonics at the «Benasque Science Center» (in alternate years, the “Nanolight” and “Quantum Nanophotonics” series). In 2018 I launched (together with A. Nikitin) the «Nanophotonics of 2D Materials» conference series, which now has four editions.

Finally, I am currently the PI of the Research Group «Quantum Materials and Devices» of the Government of Aragon and Vice-director of the Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragon.