METANANO over the years
METANANO is organized by the staff of ITMO’s Faculty of Physics and Engineering. The first conference was held in Anapa, in 2016, and was attended by 90 scientists, most of whom came from Russian universities and research centers. The second conference was held in Vladivostok, bringing together 250 participants, 40% from abroad. The third METANANO conference is expected to welcome at least 350 visitors.
The conference’s success reflects the development of the Faculty of Physics and Engineering, says Mikhail Odit, research fellow at the faculty. In addition to the main topics, the event’s program will include special sessions, six of which are organized by ITMO staff.
Many of the faculty’s researchers will come to the conference in Sochi to present the latest results of their work. This includes new technologies related to the use of perovskites in solar panels and LEDs, use of silicon for medical and other purposes, wireless energy transfer using metasurfaces, the creation of a
“white” near-field microscope, high-field MRI technology and many others.
Due to the development of many varied areas of research at the faculty, interdisciplinary research is becoming more and more common at the conference. At METANANO 2018, scientists will discuss the latest achievements in optical sensors (optics+bioinformatics), targeted drug delivery (chemistry+optics+biophotonics), and single-photon sources (quantum optics+solid-state physics+radiophysics). Projects existing at the junction of several sciences are growing in number, as they are key to finding practical applications for theoretical research.
“METANANO covers many scientific fields: metamaterials, optics, photonics, microwave radiation, new medical materials and many others. We invite scientists of all specializations and let them find common ground for cooperation. Our conference has already established a great reputation for itself: when we send out invitations to new participants, they respond that they’re already aware of it and plan to attend,” – says Polina Kapitanova, METANANO 2018 Technical Program Committee Chair and research fellow at the Faculty.
World’s top scientists
This year’s conference will feature even more renowned, big-name scientists. At the plenary session, Andre Geim, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics and professor at the University of Manchester, will present a report on 2D heterostructures. Professor Sven Hoefling of the University of Sheffield will present new data on quantum dot single-photon sources. Professor Javier Garcia de Abajo of ICREA is going to share the results of his research on optical modes at atomic scale. Stefan Maier, a professor of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, will present a report on charge transfer in nanoplasmonics. Mikhail Katsnelson of the Radboud University Nijmegen will discuss the latest advances in magnetic interactions in real materials.
In addition to the plenary speakers, nearly 30 more keynote speakers will attend the conference; the full list of METANANO 2018 speakers is available on its website. These scientists are some of the top experts in their respective fields and their work shapes the trends in modern science.
“At METANANO, scientists will present research data that has never been published or presented anywhere else. Today, this research is being done by a select few scientific teams around the world; tomorrow, the rest of the world will follow their lead. The reports chosen for the conference are reviewed by an international expert committee, and the reviewed works are then published in a compilation indexed by Scopus and Web of Science. This ensures the high quality of the conference and the reports presented there,” – says Ms. Kapitanova.
This year’s METANANO conference will be held on the premises of the Siruis educational center. Students from all over Russia who will come to Sirius’s September term will be able to attend lectures by the conference’s guests. The country’s top students will learn about nanophotonics and metamaterials from the world’s top scientists.
Students and researchers who would like to attend METANANO can take part in a grant competition; grant recipients will have their registration fees waived. To participate, one needs to send in a CV and a motivational letter together with their thesis. The METANANO Technical Program Committee will evaluate all applications and award grants based on scientific merits of the applicants.
The submission deadline for participants is March 30, 2018; the conference will be held in Sochi on September 17-21, 2018. More information can be found on the conference’s website.
