Short Bio

Michele Cotrufo received a BS and a MS degree in physics from University of Bari, Italy (2010) and University of Padova, Italy (2012), respectively. He then joined the Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) as a doctoral student, where he investigated novel light-matter interactions in nanophotonics and hybrid optomechanical systems. After graduating in 2017, he performed postdoctoral research at the University of Texas at Austin and at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center (New York City). Michele joined the Institute of Optics in 2023 as an assistant professor.

Research Overview

Professor Cotrufo’s research focuses on the investigation of metamaterials—artificially structured materials that manifest optical properties not available in bulk materials—for a broad range of applications in classical and quantum optics. His group is particularly interested in exploring, theoretically and experimentally, the use of quantum metamaterials for the generation, manipulation, and detection of quantum states of light.

Research Interests

• Quantum metamaterials

Selected Publications

• M. Cotrufo, A. Cordaro, D. L. Sounas, A. Polman, and A. Alù, “Passive Bias-Free Nonreciprocal Metasurfaces Based on Nonlinear Quasi-Bound States in the Continuum,” arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.05586, 2022.
• M. Cotrufo*, A. Arora*, S. Singh, and A. Alù, “Dispersion Engineered Metasurfaces for Broadband, High-NA, High-Efficiency, Dual-Polarization Analog Image Processing,” arXiv preprint arXiv:2212.03468, 2022.
• N. Nefedkin, M. Cotrufo, and A. Alù, “Nonreciprocal total cross section of quantum metasurfaces,” Nanophotonics, 12.3, 589-606, 2023.
• K. Y. Yang*, J. Skarda*, M. Cotrufo*, A. Dutt, G. H. Ahn, M. Sawaby, D. Vercruysse, A. Arbabian, S. Fan, A. Alù, et al., “Inverse-designed non-reciprocal pulse router for chip-based LiDAR,” Nature Photonics, pp. 1–6, 2020.
• M. Cotrufo and A. Alù, “Excitation of Single-Photon Embedded Eigenstates in Coupled Cavity–Atom Systems,” Optica, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 799–804, 2019.
• M. Cotrufo, A. Fiore, and E. Verhagen, “Coherent Atom-Phonon Interaction through Mode Field Coupling in Hybrid Optomechanical Systems,” Physical Review Letters, vol. 118, no. 13, p. 133 603, 2017.
• M. Cotrufo, C. I. Osorio, and A. F. Koenderink, “Spin-Dependent Emission from Arrays of Planar Chiral Nanoantennas Due to Lattice and Localized Plasmon Resonances,” ACS Nano, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 3389–3397, 2016.

Teaching

Fall 2023:

• OPT 201: Geometrical Optics