Spatio-temporal metamaterials for light

Metamaterials have revolutionised the way we control light transport and generation. Yet, to date, they rely on static and passive architectures, only redistributing incident wave energy, for example a metalens that focuses light or a cloak that makes an object invisible. The next frontier is to control metamaterials in space and time, and make waves from the past and future to interact. The next frontier is to control metamaterials in space and time, and make waves from the past and future to interact. I will discuss our first steps towards temporal control and experiments on double-slit time diffraction at optical frequencies in time-varying metamaterials. Intertwining space and time, I will discuss the observation of scattering of light from optical modulations traveling faster than the speed of light and how this will enable us to simulate more complex phenomena.