Twenty Years of Research in Subwavelength Grating Metamaterial Integrated Photonics: From Fundamentals to Real-World Impact

Subwavelength grating metamaterials have become a key tool in silicon photonics, enabling integrated optical devices with unprecedented performance. This invited talk reviews some of the main contributions made by the University of Málaga, in close collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), to the development of this field. Particular emphasis will be placed on practical considerations in the design, fabrication, scaling, and qualification of these devices, as well as on how this line of research ultimately led to the creation of AGPhotonics, a university spin-off focused on integrated-photonics solutions for free-space optical wireless communications.