For more than 10 years our team pioneers the development and application of hybrid photonic systems at micro- and nanoscales. By combining precise laser fabrication, advanced modelling, and comprehensive optical measurements, we manipulate light-matter interactions to drive innovations with far-reaching impact.

Currently, a significant number of valuable and everyday goods are being counterfeited, leading to financial losses for businesses of all sizes, as well as economic losses for the state. It is important to note that counterfeit pharmaceuticals are a particularly acute problem, as they pose a threat to human health. Fortunately, active efforts are underway to combat this problem by creating new, high-tech security features, which increase the chances of identifying counterfeit goods.

One approach to addressing this challenge is the use of nanoscale objects and the phenomena that arise from their interaction with light. Our research focuses on developing novel, high-tech, and easy-to-implement nanophotonic systems for protecting various products from counterfeiting. Such nanophotonic systems are based on different types of nanostructures, including resonant plasmonic nanoparticles and nanoparticles with a high refractive index, as well as their combinations, called hybrid nanostructures.
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Highlighted Articles:

1) Kustov P., Yaroshenko V., Sandomirskii M., Petrova E., Fedorova M., Ageev E., Mukhin I., Zuev D.A. Polarization-Sensitive Scattering from Tunable Hybrid Au–Si Nanoantennas for Anticounterfeiting Applications // ACS Applied Optical Materials. – 2025.
2) Sandomirskii M., Petrova E., Kustov P., Chizhov L., Larin A.O., Bruyère S., Yaroshenko V., Ageev E., Belov P., Zuev D.A. Spectral Physical Unclonable Functions: Downscaling Randomness with Multi-Resonant Hybrid Particles // Nature Communications. – 2025. – Vol. 16. – № 1. – Pp. 1–12.
3) Ponkratova E, Ageev E, Trifonov P, Kustov P, Sandomirskii M, Zhukov M, Larin A, Mukhin I, Belmonte T, Nominé A, Bruyère S. Coding of Non‐Linear White‐Light Luminescence from Gold‐Silicon Structures for Physically Unclonable Security Labels //Advanced Functional Materials. – 2022. – V. 32. – №. 41. – P. 2205859.
4) Kustov P, Petrova E, Nazarov M, Gilmullin A, Sandomirskii M, Ponkratova E, Yaroshenko V, Ageev E, Zuev D. Mie-Resonant Silicon Nanoparticles for Physically Unclonable Anti-Counterfeiting Labels //ACS Applied Nano Materials. – 2022. – V. 5. – №. 8. – Pp. 10548-10559.
5) Larin AO, Dvoretckaia LN, Mozharov AM, Mukhin IS, Cherepakhin AB, Shishkin II, Ageev EI, Zuev DA. Luminescent erbium‐doped silicon thin films for advanced anti‐counterfeit labels //Advanced Materials. – 2021. – V. 33. – №. 16. – P. 2005886.

The large-scale, commercial application of nanofabrication techniques presents exciting opportunities for the unprecedented advancement of information technologies, sophisticated micro- and nanoelectronic devices, nanophotonic and plasmonic devices for various applications.

Our research group specializes on fabrication of nanoparticles on thin metal, dielectric and hybrid films. Gold and silver nanoparticles are used as resonant structures in diagnostic applications such as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and surface-enhanced fluorescence (SEF) for ultrasensitive detection of biomolecule. We have several works, in which we investigate improvement of light extraction efficiency on plasmonic nanostructures.

Along with nanoparticles, we also have experience in creating nanostructures of more complex geometries, including nanojets and nanobumps. These structures are also promising in the field of creating photosensitive sensors for biomedical tasks. So, for example, we have created hybrid nanostructures from thin films of the "silicon-gold" type, which demonstrate white photoluminescence.
We also have experience in microstructuring the surfaces of materials such as titanium, copper, gold, silver, erbium, silicon and others. With non-lithography methods, we create micropatterns and microfluidic chips.
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Highlighted Articles:

1) Khubezhov SA, Ponkratova EY, Kuzmichev AM, Maleeva KA, Larin AO, Karsakova ME, Yakimchuk DV, Zyuzin MV, Makarov SV, Zuev DA. Fast and scalable fabrication of Ag/TiO2 nanostructured substrates for enhanced plasmonic sensing and photocatalytic applications //Applied Surface Science. – 2024. – P. 160669.
2) Karsakova M, Shchedrina N, Karamyants A, Ponkratova E, Odintsova G, Zuev D. Eco-friendly approach for creation of resonant silicon nanoparticle colloids //Langmuir. – 2022. – V. 39. – №. 1. – Pp. 204-210.
3) Ye J., Zuev D., Makarov S. Dewetting mechanisms and their exploitation for the large-scale fabrication of advanced nanophotonic systems //International Materials Reviews. – 2019. – V. 64. – №. 8. – Pp. 439-477.
4) Makarov SV, Milichko VA, Mukhin IS, Shishkin II, Zuev DA, Mozharov AM, Krasnok AE, Belov PA. Controllable femtosecond laser‐induced dewetting for plasmonic applications //Laser & Photonics Reviews. – 2016. – V. 10. – №. 1. – Pp. 91-99.

The development and creation of compact sensors capable of performing fast and high-precision diagnostics is an important task in such areas as analyzing the level of environmental and food pollution, diagnosing various diseases at the point of medical care, etc. Among the various types of sensors, optical ones are one of the most promising sensors, the principle of which is based on detecting changes in optical properties depending on the concentration of the substances under study. An important parameter of such sensors that affects the accuracy of the measured data is their sensitivity. One of the promising methods that can increase the sensitivity of optical sensors is the use of nanostructures with unique optical properties.

Our group is engaged in two areas in the field of optical sensing. The first direction is devoted to the detection of small concentrations of various molecules (for example, dyes, antibiotics, etc.) based on amplification of the Raman scattering signal by a surface consisting of gold or silver nanoparticles placed on different substrates. The second direction is devoted to the colorimetric detection of various biological compounds (viruses, bacteria, microRNA, exosomes, etc.) based on resonant dielectric nanostructures.

Since 2018 our group has been collaborating with Professor Yanlin Song research group (Chinese Academy of Science). In our joint research with Prof. Yanlin Song and Prof. Meng Su we try to solve the problems of optical detection diffraction limits around nano-green printed photonic resonance structures and nano-optical detection systems. The joint research is based on the preparation of tunable photonic structures and intelligent optical signal processing and application issues that are of common concern to both parties. It provides a reliable research platform and lays a solid foundation for establishing a research team with important international influence. We have published 10 joint articles.
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Highlighted Articles:

1) Khubezhov SA, Ponkratova EY, Kuzmichev AM, Maleeva KA, Larin AO. Fast and scalable fabrication of Ag/TiO2 nanostructured substrates for enhanced plasmonic sensing and photocatalytic applications // Applied Surface Science. – 2024. – P. 160669.
2) Yang Y., Zhang Z., Sun Y., Yun Y., Zhao D., Yang X., Tan Z., Zhang Z., Cheng J., Xia J., Huang L. A Printed Polarization‐Sensitive Biochip for Rapid and Accurate Detection of Respiratory Infections // Advanced Functional Materials. – 2025.
3) Yang X., Zhang Z., Wu Y., Wang H., Yun Y., Sun Y., Xie H., Bogdanov B., Senyushkin P., Chi J., Lian Z. Printed divisional optical biochip for multiplex visualizable exosome analysis at point‐of‐care // Advanced Materials. – 2024. – Vol. 36(4). – P.2304935.
4) Wang H., Sun Y., Zhang Z., Yang X., Ning B., Senyushkin P., Bogdanov B. et al. Molecular recognition-modulated hetero-assembly of nanostructures for visualizable and portable detection of circulating miRNAs // Analytical Chemistry. – 2023. – Vol. 95, no. 31. – P. 11769-11776.
5) Zhang Z, Sun Y, Yang Y, Yang X, Wang H, Yun Y, Pan X, Lian Z, Kuzmin A, Ponkratova E, Mikhailova J. Rapid identification and monitoring of multiple bacterial infections using printed nanoarrays //Advanced Materials. – 2023. – V. 35. – №. 12. – P. 2211363.
6) Manoccio M, Esposito M, Primiceri E, Leo A, Tasco V, Cuscunà M, Zuev D, Sun Y, Maruccio G, Romano A, Quattrini A. Femtomolar biodetection by a compact core–shell 3D chiral metamaterial //Nano Letters. – 2021. – V. 21. – №. 14. – Pp. 6179-6187.
7) Zhang Z, Wang H, Su M, Sun Y, Tan SJ, Ponkratova E, Zhao M, Wu D, Wang K, Pan Q, Chen B. Printed nanochain‐based colorimetric assay for quantitative virus detection //Angewandte Chemie. – 2021. – V. 133. – №. 45. – Pp. 24436-24442.
8) Milichko VA, Zuev DA, Baranov DG, Zograf GP, Volodina K, Krasilin AA, Mukhin IS, Dmitriev PA, Vinogradov VV, Makarov SV, Belov PA. Metal‐dielectric nanocavity for real‐time tracing molecular events with temperature feedback //Laser & Photonics Reviews. – 2018. – V. 12. – №. 1. – P. 1700227.

Our team actively employs computer vision and machine learning techniques in our projects. These methods are especially useful in projects related to physically unclonable security labels and the analysis of substances.

Due to the unique nature of physically unclonable labels, special protocols are required for their use in order to ensure accurate comparison. Our team has developed these protocols using the Open Computer Vision library. These protocols allow us to identify the position and color of each nanostructure on the label during the reading process. After reading the label, an authentication process begins that compares the data read from the user label with information stored in a database. This ensures that the label is genuine and has not been tampered with.

The analysis of substances using Raman spectroscopy involves processing a large amount of spectral data. Due to the various molecular bonds in the substances being studied, spectral analysis can be a challenging task. To overcome this challenge, we have employed machine learning techniques. We have utilized various methods for classification and regression tasks, including Decision Trees, Random Forests, Support Vector Machines, and Logistic Regression. These methods have allowed us to perform both quantitative and qualitative analyses with an accuracy exceeding 95%. This approach has enabled us to automate the analysis of large volumes of data, effectively addressing the difficulties associated with complex spectral analysis.
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Highlighted Articles:

Kustov P., Yaroshenko V., Sandomirskii M., Petrova E., Fedorova M., Ageev E., Mukhin I., Zuev D.A. Polarization-Sensitive Scattering from Tunable Hybrid Au–Si Nanoantennas for Anticounterfeiting Applications // ACS Applied Optical Materials. – 2025.

The technological progress of modern devices tends to miniaturize the systems used and move from electrical to optical signal operations, as electronic information processing devices have reached their fundamental limits. This led to the creation of the concept of integrated optical chips, which are a multicomponent photonic device on a single substrate. The path from an electronic chip to an optical chip involves the gradual replacement of electrical components with optical analogues to achieve new records for speed of information processing and transmission and new capabilities for storing and protecting information.

All the successes and knowledge collected during the development of an advanced device of the future have formed such a scientific direction as hybrid nanophotonics, which studies the processes of interaction of photons with materials with characteristic sizes of 1–100 nanometers. The essence of this direction is to combine the advantages of metals and materials with a high refractive index (dielectrics and semiconductors) in a single nanostructure. This gives a greater degree of freedom when customizing the properties of optical devices, as well as obtaining new promising passive and active components of integrated optical chips.
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Highlighted Articles:

1) Yang X., Zhang Z., Sun H., Yun Y., Xie H., Tan Z., Wang H., Yang Y., Chen B., Teng H., Pan X. Multidimensional Resonance Controlled by Critical Size in Printed Binary Colloidal Crystals for High-Contrast Imaging // Journal of the American Chemical Society. – 2025.
2) Sun Y, Larin A, Mozharov A, Ageev E, Pashina O, Komissarenko F, Mukhin I, Petrov M, Makarov S, Belov P, Zuev D. All-optical generation of static electric field in a single metal-semiconductor nanoantenna //Light: Science & Applications. – 2023. – V. 12. – №. 1. – P. 237.
3) Larin AO, Nominé A, Ageev EI, Ghanbaja J, Kolotova LN, Starikov SV, Bruyère S, Belmonte T, Makarov SV, Zuev DA. Plasmonic nanosponges filled with silicon for enhanced white light emission //Nanoscale. – 2020. – V. 12. – №. 2. – Pp. 1013-1021.
4) Zuev DA, Makarov SV, Milichko VA, Starikov SV, Mukhin IS, Morozov IA, Shishkin II, Krasnok AE, Belov PA. Fabrication of Hybrid Nanostructures via Nanoscale Laser‐Induced Reshaping for Advanced Light Manipulation //Advanced Materials. – 2016. – V. 28. – №. 16. – Pp. 3087-3093.
5) Sun Y, Yaroshenko V, Chebykin A, Ageev E, Makarov S, Zuev D. Metal-dielectric nanoantenna for radiation control of a single-photon emitter //Optical Materials Express. – 2019. – V. 10. – №. 1. – Pp. 29-35.