IEM Distinguished Lecturers Seminar: Emergence of Quantum Space-Time Engineered-Modulation (Q-STEM) Metamaterials
***Coffee and Sweets will be served at 13:00 in the hall of BM 5202***
Abstract
Space-Time Engineered-Modulation (STEM) metamaterials represent a new paradigm in classical and quantum electronics and optics, enabling unprecedented control over electron/light-matter interactions by introducing time-dependent properties into otherwise static structures. This talk explores Quantum STEM (Q-STEM) metamaterials with diverse structural and dynamical configurations, approached through the framework of transition engineering—a holistic strategy for tailoring quantum states via structured space-time. We address two foundational problems in this context. The first concerns the response of time- and space-time-varying metamaterials to an electron, revealing novel scattering phenomena, Aharonov-Bohm-type effects and the possibility of engineering the Klein gap, a mass gap associated with Dirac-like dispersion relations. The second investigates the creation and annihilation of photon pairs in arbitrarily time-varying media, uncovering the emergence of small-scale entangled and spectrally structured states, along with large-scale multi-stage enhanced signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) amplification. Together, these problems illustrate the transformative potential of Q-STEMs in redefining quantum optics and electronics, pointing toward a new class of quantum devices with enhanced functionality, efficiency and scalability.
Bio
Christophe Caloz received the Diplôme d'Ingénieur en Électricité and the Ph.D. degree from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, in 1995 and 2000, respectively. From 2001 to 2004, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Microwave Electronics Laboratory, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In 2004, he joined Polytechnique Montréal, where he was a Professor (Assistant 2004, Associate 2006, Full 2010) and the holder of a Canada Research Chair (Tier-II 2005-2015 and Tier-I 2015-2019) in Metamaterials until 2020. In 2020, he joined KU Leuven as a BOFZAP Professor and as the head of the META Research Group.
Dr. Caloz has authored and co-authored over 850 technical conference, letter and journal papers, 17 books and book chapters, and he holds a dozen of patents. His works have generated over 40,000 citations, and he is a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher. He received a number of awards, including the UCLA Chancellor’s Award for Post-doctoral Research in 2004, the MTT-S Outstanding Young Engineer Award in 2007, the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship in 2013, the Prix Urgel-Archambault in 2013, the Killam Fellowship in 2016, and many best paper awards with his students at international conferences. He has been Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) since 2010, a Distinguished Lecturer of the Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) from 2014 to 2016, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) since 2016, and a Fellow of Optical (formerly Optical Society of America - OSA) since 2019.
His research interests include all fields of theoretical, computational and technological electromagnetics, with strong emphasis on emergent and multidisciplinary topics, such as metamaterials and metasurfaces, quantum and nano electromagnetics, space-time electrodynamics, and exotic antenna systems and real-time radio/photonic processing.
Abstract
Space-Time Engineered-Modulation (STEM) metamaterials represent a new paradigm in classical and quantum electronics and optics, enabling unprecedented control over electron/light-matter interactions by introducing time-dependent properties into otherwise static structures. This talk explores Quantum STEM (Q-STEM) metamaterials with diverse structural and dynamical configurations, approached through the framework of transition engineering—a holistic strategy for tailoring quantum states via structured space-time. We address two foundational problems in this context. The first concerns the response of time- and space-time-varying metamaterials to an electron, revealing novel scattering phenomena, Aharonov-Bohm-type effects and the possibility of engineering the Klein gap, a mass gap associated with Dirac-like dispersion relations. The second investigates the creation and annihilation of photon pairs in arbitrarily time-varying media, uncovering the emergence of small-scale entangled and spectrally structured states, along with large-scale multi-stage enhanced signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) amplification. Together, these problems illustrate the transformative potential of Q-STEMs in redefining quantum optics and electronics, pointing toward a new class of quantum devices with enhanced functionality, efficiency and scalability.
Bio
Christophe Caloz received the Diplôme d'Ingénieur en Électricité and the Ph.D. degree from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, in 1995 and 2000, respectively. From 2001 to 2004, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Microwave Electronics Laboratory, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In 2004, he joined Polytechnique Montréal, where he was a Professor (Assistant 2004, Associate 2006, Full 2010) and the holder of a Canada Research Chair (Tier-II 2005-2015 and Tier-I 2015-2019) in Metamaterials until 2020. In 2020, he joined KU Leuven as a BOFZAP Professor and as the head of the META Research Group.
Dr. Caloz has authored and co-authored over 850 technical conference, letter and journal papers, 17 books and book chapters, and he holds a dozen of patents. His works have generated over 40,000 citations, and he is a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher. He received a number of awards, including the UCLA Chancellor’s Award for Post-doctoral Research in 2004, the MTT-S Outstanding Young Engineer Award in 2007, the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship in 2013, the Prix Urgel-Archambault in 2013, the Killam Fellowship in 2016, and many best paper awards with his students at international conferences. He has been Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) since 2010, a Distinguished Lecturer of the Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) from 2014 to 2016, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) since 2016, and a Fellow of Optical (formerly Optical Society of America - OSA) since 2019.
His research interests include all fields of theoretical, computational and technological electromagnetics, with strong emphasis on emergent and multidisciplinary topics, such as metamaterials and metasurfaces, quantum and nano electromagnetics, space-time electrodynamics, and exotic antenna systems and real-time radio/photonic processing.
Practical information
- General public
- Free