Nanodevices Research Group

Prof. Gianluca Ruffato

Gianluca Ruffato is an Associate Professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Padova.

He got his BSc degree (2006) and MSc degree (2008) in Physics from the University of Padova. He got his PhD in Physics in 2012 from the same University, with a thesis focused on the design, optimization and optical characterization of plasmonic nanostructures for sensing devices.

From 2012 to 2014 he worked as a researcher at the Laboratory for Nanofabrication of Nanodevices (LaNN) in Padova, with a research project dealing with the design of plasmonic devices for sensing applications. Since 2008 he has been involved in several research projects on plasmonic biosensing and structured light for life sciences and ICT, participating in national and international conferences.

His current research interests include complex light beams and metasurfaces for advanced light shaping in different fields: mode-division multiplexing in the visible and near-infrared range, high-resolution microscopy and computer-generated holograms for anti-counterfeiting applications. His experience includes analytical modeling and numerical simulations, experimental characterization techniques, and the design and development of opto-mechanical setups for optical characterizations both in free-space and optical fibers in the classical and single-photon regimes. In the field of vision science, he leads the development of optometric instruments aimed at probing visual functionality through perceptual threshold measurements in entoptic phenomena and complex spatio-temporal stimuli.

His scientific production encompasses more than 100 papers and conference proceedings, 1 book chapter, and 7 deposited patents. He is currently the coordinator of the Degree in Optics and Optometry of the University of Padova.

He is founder and CTO of MetaPhoX, an academic startup dedicated to the technological transfer and industrial integration of metasurfaces and flat optics for applications in photonics and ICT.