Events

Date: 19 September 2025   Time: 11:30 - 12:30

Location: Graduate Centre, GC205 + Online

Click here to join the online meeting

Summary

The propagation of light through various media has long been a subject of fundamental interest in physics. Optical phenomena such as diffraction, scattering, and emission are not only rich in physical content but also central to applications in information processing, imaging, security, and medicine—making research in optics both scientifically and socially relevant. While most optical effects in conventional isotropic media are well understood, light behavior can change dramatically in strongly anisotropic materials, giving rise to surprising and less-explored phenomena. Notably, certain van der Waals crystals can support polaritons— electromagnetic waves coupled with dipolar excitations in matter. In these materials, the polariton dispersion relation (linking energy and momentum) can acquire a hyperbolic character. This hyperbolic dispersion results in polaritons that propagate only along specific directions, exhibiting highly non-intuitive effects such as negative reflection and refraction, negative phase and group velocities, canalization (confined propagation along narrow angular sectors), and deep subwavelength focusing.

Biography

Dr. Alexey Nikitin

PhD Period: I pursued my postgraduate studies at the O.Ya. Usikov Institute for Radiophysics and Electronics (Kharkiv, Ukraine). During my PhD, my research achievements were recognized with awards from Samsung Electronics and the President of Ukraine. As an Assistant Professor at I. Kozhedub National Air Force University (Kharkiv, Ukraine), I delivered over 300 hours of lectures to undergraduate students. In 2006, I successfully defended my PhD thesis at the B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering (Kharkiv, Ukraine).

Postdoctoral Period: Following my PhD, I was awarded a prestigious European Union (EU)

individual grant supporting "bright young scientists" from former USSR countries in innovative research fields. This grant enabled me to commence my postdoctoral research in the Nanophotonics group led by Prof. L. Martin-Moreno at the University of Zaragoza (UZ). During this period, I contributed to several EU-funded projects and, in 2008, was awarded the Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship, allowing me to join CSIC-UZ for the period 2009-2012. Since 2009, I have been a member of the BiFi "Group of Excellence" under the governing body of the region of Aragón.

Tenure Track and Permanent Positions: In 2012, I joined the Nanooptics group led by Prof. R. Hillenbrand at CIC Nanogune (San Sebastián) as a tenure-track Ikerbasque Research Fellow. During this period, I undertook two research stays at the Chinese Academy of Sciences as an invited scientist. In 2018, I was promoted to a permanent Ikerbasque Research Associate position, which was further upgraded to Ikerbasque Research Professor at the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) in 2025. As an Ikerbasque researcher, I have secured four National Plan grants as Principal Investigator (PI). I have successfully supervised four PhD students who have defended their theses, and I am currently supervising five more.

Research Performance: Throughout my research career, I have published approximately 100 journal papers, including publications in high-impact journals such as Science (2), Nature (1), Nature Photonics (4), Nature Materials (2), Nature Nanotechnology (2), Nature Communications (11), and Science Advances (3), among others. Most of my publications are in Q1 journals, with a significant number ranked in the top D1 category. My research has received over 10,000 citations, with an h-index of 54 (Google Scholar). I actively participate in international conferences, frequently delivering invited talks. In 2017, I initiated the international conference series Nanophotonics of 2D Materials (N2D), which attracted over 500 participants in 2020. Additionally, I have been an invited scientist and lecturer at Uppsala University (Sweden), delivering Master's level lectures within an established course. I have led numerous R&D projects. As a recognized expert in my field, I regularly serve as a referee for high-impact journals within the Nature and Science families. Furthermore, I have contributed as an external evaluator for the Research Executive Agency (EU) and the Spanish State Research Agency.