Alberto González Curto

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven

Nominator: Alberto González Curto

Nomination Questions:
In 250 words or less, describe why you first became interested in optics/photonics/physics. - It
all started thanks to the spark lit by Prof. Isabel Arias Tobalina, now retired. I fell in love with
Optics during the second year of my Bachelor in Physics at the Universidad de Salamanca in
Spain. Thanks to this superb teacher, during the course “Wave Physics” I realized that Optics
encompasses much of the exciting phenomena in other parts of Physics, such as Quantum
Physics and Solid State Physics. Later I also learned about the endless number of applications.
Since then, I am hooked up to Optics and Photonics and focused my career on the science and
technology of light with several internships in Optics and master and doctoral degrees in
Photonics. Currently, as Assistant Professor and leader of the Nano-Optics laboratory in
Eindhoven, my goal is to pass on to my students my passion for light.
In 250 words or less, how does optics play a role in your current research? - TEST
In 250 words or less, how does optics play a role in your current position? - For me, light is both
a tool and the research subject itself. My aim is to push Photonics to its ultimate physical limit: the
atomic scale. My work takes Photonics to the nanometer scale for efficient light emission and the
detection of minute amounts of molecules. I have made major contributions to the development of
the paradigm of optical antennas based on metal and semiconductor nanostructures for the
enhancement of light-matter interaction. Optical nanoantennas are analog to conventional
antennas, but now working at much shorter wavelengths. The guiding theme of my research
career is the control of light-emitting nanomaterials, including single emitters such as single
molecules and quantum dots, and atomically thin semiconductors.
In 250 words or less, identify the impact receiving this grant would have on your career. - My
ideal long-term career keeps a balanced development in multifaceted aspects: carrying out
excellent research, mentoring future researchers and engineers, and teaching and disseminating
Optics to attract interest in our field. To realize my vision, as I describe in my Personal Statement,
I have been taking increasing leadership roles in all these domains: I have started my own
laboratory to realize my research ambitions; I have created the student chapter Photonics Society
Eindhoven to provide better opportunities and training for my students; and I have advocated
increasing teaching in Photonics at my university to raise student awareness.

As a tenure-track Assistant Professor, the Ivan P. Kaminow award will consolidate, validate, and
provide continuity to my multifaceted approach. Importantly, the prize consists of training
opportunities within OSA to develop leadership further. I hope to take these opportunities to
continue contributing to OSA at higher levels in coming years. An exciting aspect of the
professional development activities is that I can also transmit the skills to my mentees and the
student members of Photonics Society Eindhoven as faculty advisor.
Alberto G. Curto
Assistant Professor
TU/e Eindhoven University of Technology
Department of Applied Physics
Eindhoven, the Netherlands
A.G.Curto@TUe.nl www.nano-optics.nl

Research Experience
2016- Assistant Professor TU/e Eindhoven University of Technology
2013-2016 Postdoctoral Fellow Stanford University (USA)
2008-2013 Ph.D. Fellow ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ES)
2008 Graduate Intern INSTITUTO DE ÓPTICA – CSIC (ES)
2007 Undergraduate Intern UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA (ES)

Guest Appointments
2016-2018 Guest Researcher DIFFER | Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research
2011 Visiting Scholar Stanford University (USA)

Education
2009-2013 Ph.D. in Photonics ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ES)
Thesis: “Optical antennas control light emission” Advisor: Niek van Hulst
2008-2009 M.Sc. in Photonics ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ES)
2002-2007 B.Sc. in Physics UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA (ES)

Awards
2015 Extraordinary Doctoral Thesis Award Polytechnic University of Catalonia
2014 ICFO PhD Thesis Award ICFO–The Institute of Photonic Sciences
2014 NanoMatMol Award Spanish Royal Societies of Chemistry and Physics
Best thesis in Nanoscience and Molecular Materials defended in Spain in 2013

Grants and Fellowships

2018 NWO START-UP Grant Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
Top 10-20% new principal investigators in the Netherlands in Physics and Chemistry
€599,709
2012 Marie Curie Fellow (International Outgoing) European Commission
€265,737
2012 Quantum and Nano Science Stanford University
and Engineering Fellow $60,000
CURRICULUM VITAE Alberto G. Curto

2008 PhD Fellowship for Training of University Staff Spanish Ministry of Science

Mentoring and Supervision of Researchers

Supervision at TU/e of PhD students and postdoctoral researchers
Dec. 2019- Postdoc: Dr. Ershad Mohammadi PhD in Electrical Eng., Amirkabir Un. (IR)
April 2019- PhD: Sara Elrafey MSc in Eng. Phys., Alexandria Univ. (EG)
May 2017- PhD: Rasmus Hjelmgart MSc in Nanotech., Aalborg Universitet (DK)
Dec. 2017- Postdoc: Dr. Raziman Valapu PhD in Photonics, EPFL (CH)
Oct. 2017-Jun. 2018 Visiting PhD: Ali Khatibi Shahid Beheshti University (IR)
Aug. 2018- Visiting PhD: Huihong Yuan Institute of Semiconductors-CAS (CN)
co-supervised with Dr. Zizheng Cao, Electrical Engineering at TU/e
Supervision at TU/e of Master and Bachelor students
2019 Bachelor End Project: Peter Visser, TU/e (NL)
2018 Bachelor End Project: Moos Müller, TU/e (NL)
2018 Bachelor End Project: Wouter Peeters, TU/e (NL)
2017 MSc intern: Andrei Karabanov, from Aix Marseille Université (FR)
Co-supervision of MSc and PhD students and postdoctoral researchers
At TU/e Postdoc: Shaojun Wang (2016-) with Prof. Jaime Gómez-Rivas
At Stanford PhDs: Mehmet Mutlu, Fatih Cihan, Majid Esfandyarpour (2013-2016)
with Prof. Mark Brongersma
At ICFO MSc: Radostin Pavlov (2011), Ion Hancu (2012) with Prof. Niek van Hulst

Publication Record
Articles
1. Conditions for enhancing chiral nanophotonics near achiral nanoparticles
Raziman T. V., R. H. Godiksen, Moos Müller, A. G. Curto
ACS Photonics 6, 10, 2583 (2019)
Most read article of the month November 2019 in ACS Photonics
2. Anisotropic infrared light emission from quasi-one-dimensional layered TiS3
A. Khatibi, R. H. Godiksen, S. B. Basuvalingam, D. Pellegrino,
A. A. Bol, B. Shokri, A. G. Curto
2D Materials (2019), in press

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CURRICULUM VITAE Alberto G. Curto

3. Low temperature phase-controlled synthesis of titanium di- and tri-sulfide by atomic layer
deposition
S. B. Basuvalingam, Y. Zhang, M. A. Bloodgood, R. H. Godiksen, A. G. Curto,
J. P. Hofmann, M. A. Verheijen, W. M.M. Kessels, A. A. Bol
Chemistry of Materials (2019)
4. Preserving the emission lifetime and efficiency of a monolayer semiconductor upon transfer
S. Eizagirre Barker, S. Wang, R. H. Godiksen, G. W. Castellanos, M. Berghuis,
T. V. Raziman, A. G. Curto, and J. Gómez Rivas
Advanced Optical Materials 7, 1900351 (2019)
5. Limits to strong coupling of excitons in multilayer WS2 with collective plasmonic resonances
S. Wang, Q. Le-Van, F. Vaianella, B. Maes, S. Eizagirre Barker, R. H. Godiksen,
A. G. Curto, and J. Gómez Rivas
ACS Photonics 6, 2, 286 (2019)
6. Confining light to the atomic scale (News and Views)
A. G. Curto, J. Gómez Rivas
Nature Nanotechnology 13, 442 (2018)
7. Silicon Mie resonators for highly directional light emission from monolayer MoS2
A. F. Cihan, A. G. Curto, S. Raza, P. G. Kik, M. L. Brongersma
Nature Photonics, 12, 284 (2018)
8. Optical emission near a high-impedance mirror
M. Esfandyarpour, A. G. Curto, P. G. Kik, N. Engheta, M. L. Brongersma
Nature Communications, 9, 3224 (2018)
9. Polarization-sensitive broadband photodetector using
a black phosphorus vertical p–n junction
H. Yuan, X. Liu, F. Afshinmanesh, W. Li, G. Xu, J. Sun, B. Lian, A. G. Curto, G. Ye,
Y. Hikita, Z. Shen, S.-C. Zhang, X. Chen, M. L. Brongersma, H. Y. Hwang, Y. Cui
Nature Nanotechnology 10, 707 (2015)
10. Transparent metallic fractal electrodes for semiconductor devices
F. Afshinmanesh, A. G. Curto, K. M. Melania, N. F. van Hulst, M. L. Brongersma
Nano Letters, 14 (9), 5068 (2014)
11. Strong antenna-enhanced fluorescence of a single light-harvesting complex
shows photon anti-bunching
E. Wientjes, J. Renger, A. G. Curto, R. Cogdell, N. F. van Hulst
Nature Communications, 5, 4236 (2014)
12. Nanoantenna enhanced emission of light-harvesting complex 2: the role of resonance,
polarization, and radiative and non-radiative rates
E. Wientjes, J. Renger, A. G. Curto, R. Cogdell, Niek F. van Hulst
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 16, 24739 (2014)
13. Multipolar Interference for Directed Light Emission
I. M. Hancu, A. G. Curto, M. Castro-Lopez, M. Kuttge, N. F. van Hulst
Nano Letters 14 (1), 166–171 (2014)

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CURRICULUM VITAE Alberto G. Curto

14. Multipolar Radiation of Quantum Emitters with Nanowire Optical Antennas

A. G. Curto, T. Taminiau, G. Volpe, M. Kreuzer, R. Quidant, N. F. van Hulst
Nature Communications 4, 1750 (2013)
15. Log-Periodic Optical Antennas with Broadband Directivity
R. S. Pavlov, A. G. Curto, N. F. van Hulst
Optics Communications 285, 3334–3340 (2012)
16. Unidirectional Emission of a Quantum Dot Coupled to a Nanoantenna
A. G. Curto, T. Taminiau, G. Volpe, M. Kreuzer, R. Quidant, N. F. van Hulst
Science 329, 930-932 (2010)
17. Near-Field Focusing with Optical Phase Antennas
A. G. Curto, A. Manjavacas, F. J. García de Abajo
Optics Express 17 (20), 17801-17811 (2009)

18. Near-Field Optical Phase Antennas for Long-Range Plasmon Coupling

A. G. Curto and F. J. García de Abajo
Nano Letters 8 (8), 2479-2484 (2008)

Review Articles
19. Optical Antennas for Quantum Emitters
A. G. Curto, M. Castro-Lopez, N. F. van Hulst
Óptica Pura y Aplicada 44 (2) 325-331 (2011)
Book Chapters
20. Directionality, polarization and enhancement by optical antennas
N. F. van Hulst, T. H. Taminiau, A. G. Curto
In Optical Antennas (2013), Eds. M. Agio and A. Alù, Cambridge University Press

Presentations
Invited Presentations
1. Excitons in nanophotonic landscapes: fluctuating, diffusing, annihilating
Materials Research Society Spring Meeting. April 13-17, 2020 Phoenix, AZ, USA
2. Excitons in nanophotonic landscapes: fluctuating, diffusing, annihilating
PHOTOPTICS 2020 Special Session “NanoPlasMeta”: Nanophotonics, Plasmonics and Metamaterials.
Feb. 27-29, 2020 Valletta, MT
3. Chiral nanophotonics with atomically thin semiconductors
SNAIA2019 - Smart NanoMaterials. Dec. 10-13, 2019 Paris, FR
4. Chiral nanophotonics with 2D semiconductors
METANANO 2019 – Int. Conf. Metamat. and Nanophotonics. Jul. 15-19, 2019 Saint Petersburg, RU
5. Enhancing valley-polarized light emission from 2D semiconductors
POEM2019 - 2nd Photonic and OptoElectronic Materials Conference. Apr. 9-12. 2019. London, UK

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6. Enhancing spin-valley polarization with chiral nano-optics

Physics@Veldhoven 2019 Focus session “Chirality in light-mater interactions: detection and
applications”. Jan. 22-23, 2019 Veldhoven, NL
7. Strong, directional, and efficient: optical magnetism for nanophotonics
SNAIA2018 - Smart NanoMaterials. Dec. 10-13, 2018 Paris, FR
8. 2D semiconductors for nanophotonics
Advances in Optoelectronics and Micro/Nano-Optics. Oct. 9-12, 2018 Xi’an, CN
9. 2D semiconductor nanophotonics
METANANO 2018 – Int. Conf. Metamat. and Nanophotonics. Sept. 17-21, 2018 Sochi, RU
10. Enhancing chiral felds with arrays of achiral particles (presented by Dr. Raziman TV)
SPIE Optics+Photonics 2018, NanoScience+Engineering. Aug. 20-23, 2018 San Diego, CA, USA
11. Layered semiconductors for nanophotonics
META 2018 – International Conference on Metamaterials. June 24-July 1, 2018 Marseille, FR
12. Strong, directional, and efficient: optical magnetism for nanophotonics
Materials Research Society Spring Meeting. April 2-6, 2018 Phoenix, AZ, USA
13. Layered semiconductors for nanophotonics
Chalmers Workshop: Advancing Materials Innovatively. Dec. 14-15, 2015 Gothenburg, SE
14. Layered semiconductors for nanophotonics
Advances in Optoelectronics and Micro/Nano-Optics. Oct. 28-31, 2015 Hangzhou, CN
15. Addressing Quantum Emitters with Optical Antennas
Stanford Photonics Research Center Annual Symposium. Sept. 12-14, 2011 Stanford, CA, USA
16. Addressing Quantum Emitters with Optical Antennas
SPIE Optics+Photonics 2011, NanoScience+Engineering. Aug. 12-16, 2011 San Diego, CA, USA
17. Antennas for Light: interfacing antennas to single-photon emitters (in lieu of Niek van Hulst)
Nanometa – 3rd Meeting on Nanophotonics & Metamaterials. Jan. 2-6, 2011 Seefeld, AT

Contributed Oral Presentations

1. Enhancing chiral fields with arrays of achiral nanoparticles (by Raziman T. V.)
NANOP 2019 - Nanophotonics and Micro/Nano Optics Int. Conf., Sep. 2019 Munich, DE
2. Enhanced valley-polarized emission from 2D semiconductors on nanoantennas
N2D 2019 - Nanophotonics of 2D materials, Jan. 2019 Shanghai, CN
3. Strong light-matter coupling with silicon Mie resonators
SCOM - Strong Coupling with Organic Molecules Workshop, April 2018 Eindhoven, NL
4. 2D semiconductors as sources for nanophotonics
N2D 2017 - Nanophotonics of 2D materials, July 2017 San Sebastian, ES
5. Semiconductor nanoantennas for strong and directional light-matter interaction
Complex Nanophotonics Science Camp, July 2017 Windsor, UK
6. Surface excitons in bulk ReS2 with near unity linear polarization
Physics@Veldhoven 2017. Jan. 17, 2017 Veldhoven, NL
7. A Splitter for Valley Optoelectronics
Materials Research Society Fall Meeting. Nov. 29 – Dec. 4, 2015 Boston, MA, USA
8. Beyond Electric Dipole Interaction with Optical Nanoantennas
SPP6: 6th Conference on Surface Plasmon Photonics. May 15-20, 2013 Ottawa, CA
9. Beyond Electric Dipole Interaction with Optical Nanoantennas
MediNano5–Mediterranean Conference on Nanophotonics. Nov. 2012 Barcelona, ES

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CURRICULUM VITAE Alberto G. Curto

10. Magnetic and Electric Multipolar Interactions with Optical Antennas

EOSAM 2012 - European Optical Society Annual Meeting, Sept. 25-28, 2012 Aberdeen, UK
11. Magnetic and Electric Multipolar Interactions with Nanoantennas
NFO12 – 12th International Conference on Near-field Optics. Sept. 2012 San Sebastian, ES
12. Magnetic Response of a Resonant Nanoslot Antenna
CLEO2012 – Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics. June 6-11, 2012 San Jose, CA, USA
13. Multipolar and Unidirectional Emission of Quantum Emitters Coupled to Optical Antennas
CLEO2012 – Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics. June 6-11, 2012 San Jose, CA, USA
14. Optical Antennas for Single Quantum Emitters
ECIO2012 – European Conference on Integrated Optics. April 18-20, 2012 Sitges, ES
15. Coupling of a single quantum emitter to multipolar optical antennas
SPP5: 5th Conference on Surface Plasmon Photonics. May, 2011 Busan, SK
16. Nanowire Optical Antennas: Multipolar Radiation of Quantum Emitters
NanoLight – 3rd Annual Meeting. February 28 – March 1, 2011 Miraflores, ES
17. A nano-optical Yagi-Uda antenna driven by a quantum dot
Passion for Photons (part of Passion for Knowledge). Sept. 29, 2010 San Sebastian, ES
18. Multipolar radiation by optical nanowire antennas
NFO11 – 11th Conference on Near-field Optics. Aug. 29 - Sept. 2, 2010 Beijing, CN
19. A nano-optical Yagi-Uda antenna driven by a quantum dot
NFO11 – 11th Conference on Near-field Optics. Aug. 29 - Sept. 2, 2010 Beijing, CN
20. Photonic Yagi-Uda antenna driven by a quantum dot
SPIE Optics + Photonics 2010, NanoScience+Engineering. Aug. 1-5, 2010 San Diego, CA, USA
21. Nanowire optical antennas in interaction with quantum dots
Gordon Research Seminar on Plasmonics 2010. June 12-13, 2010 Waterville, ME, USA
22. A nano-optical Yagi-Uda antenna driven by single emitters
EuCAP – 4th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation. April, 2010 Barcelona, ES
23. Focusing plasmons and light through phase accumulation with engineered scatterers
NFO10 – 10th Conference on Near-field Optics. Sept. 1-5, 2008 Buenos Aires, AR
24. Plasmonic Near-field Phase Antenna
META08-Metamaterials for Information and Communication. May, 2008 Marrakesh, MA

Poster Presentations as Principal Investigator

1. Valley polarization enhancement in 2D semiconductors with nanophotonics (presented by Rasmus
Godiksen) Physics@Veldhoven 2019. Jan. 2019 Veldhoven, NL
2. Valley polarization in few-layer WS2 and WSe2: the role of the Q-valley (presented by Rasmus Godiksen)
N2D 2019 - Nanophotonics of 2D materials, Jan. 2019 Shanghai, CN
3. Enhanced valley-polarized emission from 2D semiconductors with nanoantennas (presented by Rasmus
Godiksen), TU/e Applied Physics event, Jun. 2018 Eindhoven, NL

Seminars at Universities
1. Atomically thin Photonics: challenges and opportunities
TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research), June 20, 2019 Delft, NL
2. Strong, directional, and efficient: optical magnetism for nanophotonics
Fudan University. January 18, 2019 Shanghai, CN
3. Directing photons and electrons: optical antennas and layered semiconductors
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CURRICULUM VITAE Alberto G. Curto

AMOLF. December 9, 2016 Amsterdam, NL

4. Directing photons and electrons with nanoantennas and 2D semiconductors
TU Delft. November 7, 2016 Delft, NL
5. Directing photons and electrons at the nanoscale
University of Delaware, Electrical Engineering Dept. February 25, 2016 Newark, DE, USA
6. Directing photons and electrons at the nanoscale
University of Arizona, Department of Physics. February 8, 2016 Tucson, AZ, USA
7. Optical Antennas for Quantum Emitters
Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research. July 21, 2013 Stuttgart, DE
8. Single Quantum Dot Emission Close to a Metal Rod Antenna
Brown University, School of Engineering. June 10, 2010 Providence, RI, USA

Teaching Activities
Course contributions
2019- Photonics MSc at TU/e: responsible teacher
2019- Nanophotonics MSc at TU/e: responsible teacher
2018 Nanophotonics MSc at TU/e: co-teacher
2017-2019 Semiconductor Nanophysics MSc at TU/e: guest lecturer
Supervision of bachelor and master students

2018 Bachelor End Projects (3): Peter Visser, Moos Müller and Wouter Peeters

2018-2019 USE project (User, Society and Enterprise). Co-supervision of BSc students from
different departments analyzing a technology and business case in Nanophotonics.

2019 Local supervisor of MSc external internship: Wouter Peeters at EPLF, CH

Academic Committees
PhD Thesis Committees
2019 Mohammad Ramezani PSN group, TU/e
2019 Nikhil Parappurath PSN group, TU/e and AMOLF
2018 Alba Espinosa-Soria Polytechnic University of Valencia, ES
MSc Thesis Committees
2019 Sjoerd Loenen PSN group, TU/e and TU Delft
2019 Marc Dielen PMP group, TU/e
2019 Luuk Muris AND group, TU/e
2019 Jelke Toonen PSN group, TU/e and NXP Semiconductors N. V.
2018 Mark van Ommeren PMP group, TU/e
2018 Daan van den Goor PMP group, TU/e
2017 Bas van den Broek PSN group, TU/e
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CURRICULUM VITAE Alberto G. Curto

2017 Stijn Jooken MBx group, TU/e and Philips Handheld Diagnostics

Training in teaching and complementary skills

2019 Obtained University Teaching Qualification (Dutch BKO): certificate on teaching for higher
education based on the preparation of an extensive teaching portfolio.
2016-2019 Training for University Teaching Qualification: courses on “Teaching and Learning in
higher education”, “Assessment”, “Performance skills”, “Designing courses and projects”,
“On -the-job coaching”, “Evaluation and reflection”
2019 “Introduction to exploitation and knowledge transfer” TU/e
2018 “Scientific Project Management” TU/e
2017 “Academic Leadership for Assistant Professors” AiB, TU/e
2014 “Scientific Management Series for Postdocs” Stanford University
2013 “Future Faculty Seminar” Stanford University
2013 “Mentoring in Research Workshop” Stanford University

Other Professional Activities

In the Media

My research has been highlighted in Nature Photonics, Physics World, Laser Focus World,
Science Magazine, MIT Technology Review, El Pais (Spanish newspaper of record), and La
Recherche (French popular science magazine), amongst others

Service to the Community

Organization of seminars and outreach

2019 Founder as faculty advisor of the Photonics Society Eindhoven (PhE):
a PhD student chapter of the Optical Society of
America (chapter approval pending) dedicated
to scientific outreach, research seminars, and
industry liaison around Photonics. First
activities already hapenning: two Industry
seminars, outreach in the Dutch Design Week…
2019- Physics Colloquium organizer at Applied Physics TU/e
2008-2010 Organization and chair of Weekly Seminars at ICFO

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CURRICULUM VITAE Alberto G. Curto

I have taken part in several educational activities for the general public:
El Dia de la Luz (The Day of Light), ICFO, 2008-2012
Fascination of Light, Barcelona Edition, European Commission, 2008
Nano Days, Stanford University, 2014

Scientific Committees
Conference Committees
2020 Program committee, PHOTOPTICS 2020 Special Session “NanoPlasMeta” Valletta, MT
nd
2019 Program committee, POEM2019 - 2 Photonic and Optoelectronic Materials Conf.
London, UK
2015 Program committee, IX Spanish Optoelectronics Meeting (OPTOEL2015) Salamanca, ES
Scientific Committees
2018- Executive Committee of the Optical Materials Technical Group, Optical Society of America
Duties: webinar organization and highlights of research articles
Project and Grant Reviewer
2018 Project reviewer for FWO - Research Foundation Flanders, BE
2018 Grant reviewer, OSA Frontiers in Optics Scholarships, Optical Society of America
2016 Grant reviewer, Centennial Special Events Grant, Optical Society of America

Referee for Journals

Reviewer for top scientific journals, including:
Science Nature Nanotechnology Nature Photonics
Nano Letters ACS Nano Optica
ACS Photonics Nature Communications Advanced Materials
Optics Express Optical Materials Express Optics Letters
Light: Science and Appl. 2D Materials Advanced Opt. Materials
Laser and Photonics Reviews Applied Physics Letters Reports on Prog. in Phys.
J. of Applied Physics Etcetera

The Publons peer-review online community recognized me as “Sentinel of Science 2016”

(top 10% reviewers in Physics) and “Top Reviewer, Multidisciplinary” (top 1%) in 2017. My
online profile, including statistics, is: publons.com/a/1174158/

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As a researcher with a passion for light sustained over the years, I am enthusiastic about sharing
with you a reflection on my early career. I am convinced that an excellent academic professional
should pay attention to balance several aspects to cause a lasting impact on society. Apart from
delivering outstanding research results and inventions based on Optics, I aim to attract, educate,
and mentor future researchers and engineers to take light-based technologies to their maximum
reach. In this statement, I summarize my achievements and contributions for consideration towards
the Ivan Kaminow prize.
, my work pushes Photonics to the nanometer scale, into the atomic and molecular
regimes. I have made major contributions to the development of the paradigm of optical antennas
based on metal and semiconductor nanostructures for the enhancement of light-matter interaction.
Optical nanoantennas are analog to conventional antennas, but now working at much shorter
wavelengths. The guiding theme of my research career is the control of light emission in
nanomaterials, including single emitters (single molecules and quantum dots) and atomically thin
semiconductors. My main research achievements are:
• Proposing the conditions and limits for maximum optical chirality in evanescent fields.
• Beaming the emission of an atomically thin
semiconductor with a silicon nanoantenna.
• Putting forward a directional nanoantenna design
based on multipolar interference.
• Downsizing a TV antenna a million times to direct
photons from a single quantum dot, which is widely
recognized as a landmark in nanophotonics.
My results are published in some of the most reputable scientific journals in Optics and Photonics,
including Science, Nature Photonics, Nature Nanotechnology, Nano Letters, Nature
Communications, Optics Express, Optics Communications, or ACS Photonics. My work has been
cited 2600+ times according to Google Scholar and 1780+ times according to Web of Science.
Two of my articles qualify as “Highly Cited Papers” according to Web of Science, a statistical
distinction for the top 1% articles.
In the last few years, I have set up a Nano-Optics laboratory at TU/e – Eindhoven University of
Technology. My first set of publications as principal investigator are now published or submitted,
demonstrating great promise for continued breakthroughs in nanophotonics. My most immediate
research goals target the opportunities opened by semiconductor nanostructures for extreme
nanoscale Photonics. In particular, I want to shift the boundaries of Photonics further into the
atomic scale in two ways: 1) By increasing the sensitivity of chiral molecule sensing and
spectroscopy to the single-molecule limit, of practical relevance for biochemistry and
pharmaceuticals; 2) By exploiting atomically thin semiconductors as the material basis for
nanophotonics, including ultrathin and efficient modulators and waveguides.
Apart from being a recognized author, I am also a steady reviewer for OSA with 23 articles so far
for journals like Optica, Optics Letters, Optics Express, and Optical Materials Express.
, I have successfully advocated for more Photonics in the Master's program in
Applied Physics at my university. Up to my arrival as a tenure-tracker, Physics students did not
sufficiently engage with Optics and Photonics: after the courses Optics (compulsory) and Quantum
Optics and Information (elective) in the 3-year Bachelor, the next course would be the Master
elective Nanophotonics. As the principal teacher of this course, I quickly identified an existing
knowledge gap in the curriculum in topics such as lasers, nonlinear optics, Fourier optics, beams,
resonators, and optoelectronics. This fact was at odds with the relevance of Photonics as a research
topic and as transversal tool used by many researchers, both worldwide and locally.
I decided to take action into my hands to resolve this inconsistency when the opportunity to
redesign our Master's program arose. I am particularly proud of achieving the addition of a
Fundamentals of Photonics course, which I am creating now. Furthermore, upon my suggestion
and together with Prof. Gómez-Rivas (one of my references), we have also added lectures on the
optical properties of materials to a compulsory course (Condensed matter at the nanoscale). I am
thus very happy that I could affect change to multiply the training of our students in Optics.
, I have made several important
contributions to raise awareness about light. I have been an OSA member for 12 years already
due to my early interest in Optics, including activities in several OSA chapters. Starting as a pre-
master intern at the Instituto de Óptica-CSIC in Madrid, I was involved in the foundation of the
IOSA Student Chapter in 2007. As an MSc and PhD student, I was an active member of the ICONS
Student Chapter at ICFO, where my main contribution was the organization of weekly seminars
in the period 2008-2010. As a postdoc at Stanford University, I took part in the activities of the
Stanford Optical Society. As part of these chapters, I took part in several scientific outreach
activities: “El Día de la Luz” (The Day of Light),
ICFO (2008-2012); the Barcelona edition of
Fascination of Light, an itinerant exhibition of the
European Commission (2008); the Nano Days at
Stanford University (2014).
After this experience and moving to Eindhoven as a
tenure-track faculty member, I was surprised to learn
that no OSA Student Chapter existed, despite the high
number of researchers working on Photonics. Our Outreach session at Stanford.
students were missing crucial professional Image courtesy of Techbridge Girls.
development opportunities that could be organized around Photonics. As a mentor, I was
immediately worried that my students could not enjoy the exposure to the diversity of research
topics in Optics, interact with peers working with related techniques, or engage in scientific
dissemination activities.
Again, I took the matter into my own hands. I started talking to the PhD students of the Institute
for Photonic Integration (departments of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics). Acting as
faculty advisor, I gathered a set of 8 interested students and kick-started the creation of an OSA
Student Chapter: Photonics Society Eindhoven (PhE). Established as an association during
Summer 2019, we are pending approval as a formal chapter by OSA and expect to reach 30+
(OSA) members in 2020. We have organized already the first activities: a seminar from a local
Photonics spin-off (Bright Photonics), a “pub lecture” about career paths in Photonics with
representatives from the local companies Effect Photonics and Synopsis; and scientific outreach
in the Dutch Design Week. by joining the exhibition “TU/e Drivers of Change.” With this student
chapter, my ambition is to attract and retain the best minds to our field, particularly by raising
awareness among master students about Photonics as a career path in industry and academia.

Master and PhD students chatting after the first activity of Photonics Society Eindhoven in
October 2019. I can be seen at the center of the image congratulating Kaylee Hakkel, PhD student
and president of the Society, for a succesful event with a packed room.

As further service to the Optics community, I am currently serving on the Executive Committee
of the OSA Optical Materials Technical Group to organize webinars and research highlights. I
have also volunteered in the the OSA’s Young Professionals program reviewing grant applications
for the OSA Frontiers in Optics Scholarships 2018 and the Centennial Special Events Grant 2016.
Because of all these reasons, I am pleased to be considered as a matching candidate for the Ivan
P. Kaminow award. As detailed in my statement, I have learned through my early career that the
best way to make good things happen is to take a leading role (in research, teaching, or mentoring).
I look forward to the opportunity that the award opens for future leadership and contributions to
Optics through OSA.
Sincerely yours,
 MARK L. BRONGERSMA McCullough Building, Rm 349
349 PROFESSOR 476 Lomita Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-4045

Re: Ivan P. Kaminow Outstanding Early Career Professional Prize

Nominaton Dr. Alberto Curto

December 1, 2019

Dear member of the Prize committee,

I am delighted to write the strongest possible letter of recommendation in support of Dr.

Alberto Curto’s candidacy for this OSA Early Career Award. Because of his combination of
tremendous research and community contributions to the field of Photonics, I can hardly
imagine a better candidate for this prestigious prize.
During his PhD, he established himself as a true superstar student. Alberto
performed his PhD research at ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Spain, which
has established itself as one of the leading European institutes in the area of Nanophotonics.
There he made seminal contributions to the field of optical nano-antennas. He wrote a
number of excellent papers and his research on “Unidirectional emission of a quantum dot
coupled to a nanoantenna” published in Science attracted significant attention in the rapidly
growing nanophotonics and metamaterials communities. In this elegant work he
demonstrated how an individual quantum emitter can effectively be coupled to a nanoscale
(Yagi-Uda) optical antenna to facilitate highly directional and polarization-controlled
emission. Together with other of his PhD articles in Nature Communications and Nano
Letters, such high-quality science exemplifies his ability to come up with creative
techniques, perform complex optical experiments, and carry out electrodynamic
simulations to propose novel nanophotonic components.
In 2011, I had the pleasure of hosting Alberto for a three-month summer project,
during which we collaborated on transparent electrodes for solar cells based on fractal
metallic nanostructures. This collaboration turned out to be very fruitful and resulted in a
research paper in Nano Letters. From my personal interactions with him during his summer
project at Stanford, it became evident that he is a very quick, critical, and independent
thinker. He also demonstrated a superb work ethic and very careful experimental skills. He
had a big positive impact on the research in my group during this short stay. For this reason,
I was excited that I was able to persuade him to come back to Stanford for a postdoc in
2013.
Dr. Curto supported his own postdoc by winning a Marie Curie Fellowship
(European Commission) as well as the inaugural Nano- and Quantum Science and
Engineering Fellowship at Stanford (interdepartmental grant). Both fellowships were
highly competitive. He continued his successful research style and extended his positive
impact in my lab at Stanford University during his postdoc. He started a research line on
atomically thin semiconductors for nanophotonics, which resulted in an article in Nature
Photonics where he co-supervised a PhD student. In this work, we exploited silicon
nanowires to beam the emission of a semiconductor monolayer to extract the emitted light
away from a higher index substrate. In a paper published in Nature Communications, he also
contributed to demonstrate enhanced light emission close to a metasurface mirror by
suppressing radiation losses into surface plasmons. He also worked on strong light-matter
coupling with optical nanocavities made of silicon nanostructures.
In 2016, he obtained a tenure-track position back in Europe to start his own
laboratory. He has now established his group at the interface of nanophotonics and
atomically thin materials. With his research group, he is taking semiconductor
nanophotonics to its physical limits. His projects fuse state-of-the-art optical materials
science, nanophotonics, and condensed matter physics. At the Eindhoven University of
Technology, he is not only continuing his excellent research as a principal investigator.
Alberto is also driving Photonics into the focal spot by giving visibility to its research
through education and outreach. For example, I know Alberto has does an amazing job
recently on establishing an OSA students chapter to put Eindhoven firmly on the worldwide
Optics map and to help Dutch students interface with the increasingly global optics
community.
In summary, I feel that Alberto is a close-to-ideal candidate for the award. I think he
would make full use of the opportunity to attend the OSA Leadership conference to take
Optics to new heights in research, mentoring, and outreach. For the reasons above, I most
highly recommend him.

Sincerely,

Mark Brongersma
Professor of Materials Science and Applied Physics
Stanford University
 Flux 4.085, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, NL

Department of Applied Physics

Photonics & Semiconductor Nanophysics To the evaluation committee for the Ivan P. Kaminow
Outstanding Early Career Professional Award (Optical
De Groene Loper 19, Society of America)
5612 AZ Eindhoven
P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven
The Netherlands
Internal address: Flux 4.085
www.phys.tue.nl/psn

Date Dear Members of the Evaluation Committee,

December 1, 2019

Contact
Let me first introduce how I met Dr. Alberto Curto. I have known him
J.Gomez.Rivas@tue.nl since he was a PhD student at ICFO in Barcelona and I was a group leader
at both AMOLF in Amsterdam and Philips Research Laboratories in
Eindhoven, The Netherlands. I got to know him through his outstanding
Our reference
PSN 19.12 research on metal nanoantennas for controlling light emission. My own
research deals with the use of plasmonic nanoparticles for applications
such as solid-state lighting, organic solar cells, and free-space optical
communications. Dr. Curto’s research was highly relevant to the activities
of my group and we met at conferences.

Because of his very successful research, several years later I was thrilled
that Dr. Curto applied to a tenure-track position at Eindhoven University of
Technology (TU/e), where I held a part-time professorship at the time. As
a member of his hiring committee, we were all very impressed by his
initiative and independence after just a short postdoc at Stanford
University (USA) and offered him the position over more experienced
candidates.

Dr. Curto started his laboratory in Eindhoven in late 2016 on

nanophotonics, with a special focus on a promising class of materials for
nanoscale photonics and optoelectronics: atomically thin semiconductors.
Since then, our research teams have started several productive
collaborations on semiconductor nanophotonics in two directions. First, on
the optical properties of two-dimensional semiconductors resulting in
publications in ACS Photonics, Advanced Optical Materials and more to
be published. Second, on high-index dielectric nanoantennas based on
periodic arrays of silicon nanoparticles, with several manuscripts in
preparation. My collaboration with Dr. Curto and his team has had a very
positive impact on my own research group, as he is a researcher that
fosters mentoring beyond his directly supervised researchers. It is clear to
me that he cares deeply about creating an open and stimulating atmosphere
for the professional development of earlier career researchers.

Eindhoven has a tradition of decades of research in Nanophotonics. It

started with the COBRA Research Institute, which has now continuation as
the Institute for Photonic Integration. Despite our particular strength in
Integrated Photonics and the critical mass of researchers working directly
Date on Photonics or exploiting optical techniques, our university did not have
December 1, 2019 an OSA chapter or organized Photonics-related seminars regularly in a
Our reference
coordinated way. To address this gap, Dr. Curto has been the mastermind
PSN 19.12 behind the creation of the Photonics Society Eindhoven, an Optical Society
of America student chapter. Dr. Curto identified a set of students from the
Page
2 From 2 departments of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering to establish the
society to organize activities around Photonics. Founded in Summer 2019,
the first seminars and scientific outreach efforts have taken place in
Autumn. This new society is already having a very positive effect on the
Photonics community at TU/e, including added interaction with industry
and an increased interest of master students in our field.

Still, these are not the only dimensions where Dr. Curto is helping to bring
Optics and Photonics to the center of the stage. He is also increasing its
visibility through teaching. First, he took over the teaching responsibilities
for the Nanophotonics course in our MSc in Applied Physics. More
recently, he volunteered to create a new master course on the
Fundamentals of Photonics, which was missing from our curriculum and
will start in late 2020. Together with Dr. Curto and colleagues from the
Electrical Engineering department at TU/e, we are now arranging a
Massive Online Open Course on the Physics of Photonic Devices for 2021,
as part of an online micro-master program on Integrated Photonics.

In conclusion, Dr. Alberto Curto is a very strong contender for this OSA
award. He gathers an impressive collection of merits being an excellent
researcher, mentor and community leader. I am pleased to enthusiastically
recommend Dr. Curto for this prize for his contributions to the
advancement of Optics and Photonics at all levels.

Yours sincerely,

Prof. Dr. Jaime Gómez Rivas

Surface Photonics Chair
Group leader Photonics and Semiconductor Nanophysics
Eindhoven University of Technology
Associate editor Journal of Applied Physics (AIP)
References

Reference Affiliation Email Member Type

Mark Brongersma Stanford brongersma@stan Individual
University ford.edu
Jaime Rivas Technische j.gomez.rivas@tue Individual
Universiteit .nl
Eindhoven