PIER Journals
PhotonIcs and Electromagnetics Research Symposium, also known as Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium
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Near-Zero-Index Photonics: Physics, Devices, and Applications

Session Organizers

Qian Li
Peking University
Jiaye Wu
City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan)

Session Chairs

Qian Li
Peking University
Jiaye Wu
City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan)

Session Information

Near-zero-index (NZI) photonics explores electromagnetic regimes in which the effective refractive index approaches zero, giving rise to fundamentally new optical behavior that departs from conventional wave propagation and confinement paradigms. In such systems, light exhibits phase uniformity, spatially extended coherence, anomalous dispersion, and strongly enhanced light-matter interaction, opening new routes for device functionalities that are difficult or impossible to achieve with standard photonic platforms. This session focuses on recent advances in NZI photonics, spanning novel physical phenomena, advanced nano- and integrated device concepts, and emerging applications in optical and photonic computing. Contributions are invited on NZI-enabled effects such as phase engineering, extreme field localization, collective and nonlinear dynamics, and dispersion-controlled wave manipulation, as well as their implementation in integrated waveguides, resonators, metastructures, and hybrid material platforms. A particular emphasis is placed on how NZI physics can enable compact, low-energy, and highly parallel photonic devices for information processing, including ultrafast modulation and switching, analog and neuromorphic photonic computing, optical logic, and nontraditional computing architectures. Both fundamental studies and experimentally demonstrated devices are welcome, along with analytical and numerical modeling that elucidates the underlying physics and system-level performance. By bringing together fundamental electromagnetic theory, device engineering, and computing-oriented applications, this session aims to highlight near-zero-index photonics as a unifying framework for next-generation photonic devices and optical computing technologies.

Submitted Articles

Note: The following submitted articles are not guaranteed to be scheduled in the final program at this stage. The final presentation type and arranged session will be decided by Technical Program Committee.
Note: +: Presenting Author, *: Corresponding Author
Presenting Author Talk Time Paper Title | Authors | Abstract Session Date / Room
10:30

Invited
Ultrafast Thermo-optic Nonlinearity in Time-varying Epsilon-Near-Zero Interfaces
+*Jiaye Wu (City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan)), Xuanyi Liu (Sun Yat-sen University), Marco Clementi (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Shuang Qiu (Sun Yat-sen University), Limin Lin (Sun Yat-sen University), Zhang-Kai Zhou (Sun Yat-Sen University), Camille-Sophie Bres (Ecole Polytechnique Federale Lausanne)
1A_14b
2026-07-28
AM
Room: 14 - CR 18
10:50

Invited
Polarization-entangled Photon Pair Generation from an Epsilon-near-zero Metasurface
+*Yuanmu Yang (Tsinghua University)
1A_14b
2026-07-28
AM
Room: 14 - CR 18
11:10

Invited
Manipulation of Epsilon-near-zero Platforms and Applications towards Complex Photonic Systems
+*Qian Li (Peking University)
1A_14b
2026-07-28
AM
Room: 14 - CR 18
11:30

Invited
Ultrafast Electron Dynamics and Extreme Nonlinear Optics in Low-electron-density Drude Materials
+*Ieng-Wai Un (South China Normal University), ***, Yonatan Sivan (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
1A_14b
2026-07-28
AM
Room: 14 - CR 18

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