Monitoring the dynamics of quantum organic materials with THz technologies

Jean-Michel Ménard explores groundbreaking techniques for synthesizing quantum organic materials by combining THz light and metasurfaces, unlocking new possibilities for chemistry, biology, and medicine.

May 1, 2025
11:00 AM ET / 10:00 AM CT / 8:00 AM PT / 4:00 PM GMT
Duration: 1 hour 

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Summary

The intersection of THz photonics and quantum technologies is attracting attention. Jean-Michel Ménard will present an efficient technique for synthesizing quantum organic materials by combining THz light and matter.

This starts by designing and fabricating a two-dimensional planar resonator, a metasurface, to effectively trap light. Using a spray coating technique, a thin glucose layer is deposited on that metasurface to induce a strong interaction between confined light and glucose molecules in sugar. Ménard then maximizes light-matter interaction strength by engineering a new cavity architecture combining the traditional planar cavity design with metasurface resonators.

The speaker will discuss the unique properties exhibited resulting quantum molecular system – and how they could lead to potential applications in chemistry, biology, and medicine. He will also discuss the next steps for further development including existing obstacles.

Speaker

Jean-Michel Ménard
Associate Professor
University of Ottawa

Jean-Michel Ménard, University of Ottawa, is Associate Professor in the department of physics and cross-appointed to the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at uOttawa. He holds the University Research Chair in Quantum THz Photonics. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Toronto in 2011 under the supervision of Henry van Driel. Then, he conducted postdoctoral research projects with Rupert Huber at the University of Regensburg (2011-2014) as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow and with Philip Russell at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (2014-2015).

In 2016, he founded the uOttawa Ultrafast THz laboratory focusing on the development and demonstration of photonics systems for materials characterization.

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