Riccardo Sapienza

Optical coherent perfect absorption and amplification in a time-varying medium - Nature Photonics The researchers show that a subwavelength film of indium tin oxide, the bulk permittivity of which is strategically modulated via optical pumping, can be dynamically tuned to act as both a non-resonan...

News from the lab! 🤩
Is it possible to switch a material from being an absorber to an amplifier just by changing the phase of light?
By treating a thin film of ITO as a time-varying medium, we achieved 400% amplification and 80% absorption within the same structure.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A more focused research system does not by itself solve structural deficits Anton Muscatelli and Miles Padgett think through the deeper issues in UK research – from cost recovery and dual support to doctoral training and organisational structure – that won’t be solved by simp...

Interesting article on UK academia and its financial pressure by @milespadgett.bsky.social and @antonmuscatelli.bsky.social

wonkhe.com/blogs/a-more...

Join our team at Imperial College London! 🚀

I am looking for a postdoctoral researcher in time-varying metamaterials and ultrafast structured light in space and time.
👉 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPX643/r...

🔹 Deadline: 31st January 2026

#Photonics #Postdoc #Physics #Metamaterials #ScienceJobs

My New Year Wishes for Universities ... a modest list

Cannot agree more

profserious.substack.com/p/my-new-yea...

Dead 💀

YouTube video by Aula Rostagni UniPadova DFA Riccardo Sapienza - Metamaterials that vary in time unlock superluminal motion

It was a great honor to step on the "aula Rostagni" @unipd.bsky.social Università degli Studi di Padova, and give a talk, in the same place where 25 years before I was defending my MSci thesis... If you had asked me then I would never have guessed that
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L_x...

It is a confusing topic because usually is thought before Fourier optics. If done after it is quite natural

Bridging the gap between scientists, policy makers and industry to build the quantum ecosystem – Physics World Elizabeth Pasatembou and Dimitrie Cielecki discuss their experience of doing science policy engagement during their PhDs

The life of a PhD student is not only in the lab, Dimitrie has explored the boundary between innovation, technology and policy. All this while completing his PhD last week! 🍾

physicsworld.com/a/bridging-t...

Quantum information or metamaterials: our predictions for this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics – Physics World It’s a mug’s game, but we always have a go

Metamaterials right? 😜

physicsworld.com/a/quantum-in...

John Pendry: the physics of invisibility Our podcast on science and technology. This week, theoretical physicist John Pendry explains the mind-bending science of metamaterials

Do not miss John’s interview on metamaterials www.economist.com/podcasts/202...

YouTube video by Physics with Tony Help! We Broke the Speed of Light!

Anthony made this grest video to explain what we discovered in www.nature.com/articles/s41...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMvB...

What a visionary Man Ray was!

nyer.cm/nE3Yl5y

And IMAP takes off! 🚀With an Imperial-built instrument 😜

science.nasa.gov/mission/imap/

Weekend baking, bomboloni sourdough, recipe by Maurizio Leo www.theperfectloaf.com/naturally-le...

Morning bake, after so long! #sourdough #academicbaking

London with the sun!

super Jack!! such an exciting project! 🤩

😂

One week left to apply!

Research Assistant/Associate at Imperial College London Discover an exciting academic career path as a Research Assistant/Associate at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!

Join our team, we are recruiting! 🫵

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNZ308/r...

Scientists’ role in defending democracy The United States’ democratic leadership, commitment to freedom of expression, and investment in the pursuit of knowledge have long enabled its preeminence in science and technology. Yet today we are ...

How scientist are responding to the dismantling of the scientific system in US, to preserve integrity and truth

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Understanding University Finances ... a very short guide

Do you know how university finances works?
profserious.substack.com/p/understand...

Research Assistant/Associate at Imperial College London Discover an exciting academic career path as a Research Assistant/Associate at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!

Join our team, we are recruiting! 🫵

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNZ308/r...

Nice taking about our work on time-varying media @spie.org
Join our team, we are recruiting! 🫵

Taking off for SPIE Optics+Photonics in San Diego, if you are there and want to meet just let me know! Or come to my talk on Monday @spie.org

Professor Michele Dougherty.

The Royal Astronomical Society is pleased to congratulate Professor Michele Dougherty on her appointment as the first female Astronomer Royal. 🔭💫🪐

Read more at: ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...

⤵️

The Economist on X: "If computing power brings about technological advances without human input, and enough of the pay-off is reinvested in building still more powerful machines, wealth could accumulate at unprecedented speed https://t.co/468PT8ywKn" / X If computing power brings about technological advances without human input, and enough of the pay-off is reinvested in building still more powerful machines, wealth could accumulate at unprecedented speed https://t.co/468PT8ywKn

x.com/theeconomist...

Research Assistant/Associate at Imperial College London Apply for the Research Assistant/Associate role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.

Join our team to work on ultrafast spectroscopy of time-varying metamaterials, within our project meta4d.co.uk more details: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNZ308/r...

Surface Plasmon Polariton Excitation in Time-modulated Media Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are central to application areas such as sensing, energy harvesting, and nanoscale optics, and are typically excited via spatial structuring -- an approach lacking dy...

New paper from the lab, @razimantv.bsky.social, Paco Rodriguez and team found out surface plasmon polariton can be excitated in time-modulated media! arxiv.org/abs/2507.05126

Great to be at ETOPIM13 in New York, wonderful workshop, thank you Andrea Alù and Emil Prodan. See you at the next edition in 2028...
etopim13.sciencesconf.org