My research focuses on extreme electromagnetic regimes in optoelectronic devices operating in the mid- and far-infrared spectral domain (wavelength = 5 μm-300 μm, "TeraHertz"). In these structures a multitude of electrons trapped in artificial quantum potentials are ultra-strongly coupled with photons confined in microcavities or electromagnetic metamaterials. These structures allowed me to demonstrate and study the ultra-strong light-matter coupling regime in the THz domain for the first time. These studies led to new superradiant infrared emitters with high radiative performance and fast modulation speeds. They also provided new ultra-low noise infrared quantum detectors operating at high temperature with performance beyond the state of the art.
Today, I am particularly interested in the new quantum correlations that appear in this regime. I wonder about the possibilities of designing new experiments and optoelectronic devices where these quantum effects can be observed. In the long term, this activity should bring new insights into the field of quantum mechanics and enrich quantum technologies with new concepts.

After completing his secondary education in Bulgaria, Yanko Todorov arrived in France in 1997 to pursue his higher education in preparatory class at the Lycée Louis Le Grand. He studied in Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris) in 1999-2001, and completed his doctoral thesis in 2006 at the Laboratory of Photonics and Nanostructure in Marcoussis (now C2N Laboratory). He then joined the QUAD team at the Laboratory of Materials and Quantum Phenomena (Université Paris Diderot) as a post-doc (2007-2009), and then CNRS researcher (2009-2019). After returning at ENS as a CNRS researcher (2019-2024), Yanko Todorov integrated Physics and Materials Laboratory (LPEM) at École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris, ESPCI. There, Yanko Todorov co-founded the research group Condensed Matter Electrodynamics together with Alexis Jouan and Cheryl Feuillet-Palma.
Yanko Todorov’s research focuses on the exploration of light-matter interaction in quantum devices operating in the mid- and far-infrared range. Among his notable achievements are : the study of the Purcell effect with quantum cascade emitters [1], the first experimental demonstration of the ultra-strong light-matter coupling regime in the TeraHertz domain [2], a new quantum description of collective phenomena related to ultra-strong coupling [3,4,5], as well as the demonstration of microcavity enhanced quantum detectors [6]. His worm also covers metamaterial architectures [7], both for unipolar devices [8] and optomechanical applications [9, 10].

Milestones :
2024 -present : CNRS Director of Research (DR-CNRS)
June 2020 : Defence of Habilitation à Diriger les Recherche (HDR) : “Exploring light-matter interaction at the nanoscale with infrared photons”
September 2019 : ERC Consolidator Grant “UNIQUE” (2020 – 2026)
2009 - 2024 : CNRS Researcher (CR-CNRS)
2007 – 2009 : Post-doctoral Research Associate/ Laboratoire de Matériaux et Phénomènes Quantiques, University Paris -Diderot, Paris, France
2006 – 2007 : Temporary Lecturer and Research Assistant/ Laboratoire de Matériaux et Phénomènes Quantiques, University Paris -Diderot / Paris/France
2002 - 2006 : PhD : Laboratory of Photonics and Nanostructures/University Paris VI/ France
2002 : Master (Quantum Physics), Ecole Doctorale 107, Ecole Normale Supérieur (Ulm)/Paris / France
1999-2002 : Bachelor’s Degree at Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris)
1997-1999 : Lycée Louis le Grand (Paris)

Selected Publications :
[1] “Purcell Enhancement of Spontaneous Emission from Quantum Cascades Inside Mirror-Grating Metal Cavities at THz Frequencies”, Y. Todorov, I. Sagnes, I. Abram and C. Minot, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 22 3603 (2007).
[2] “Ultrastrong Light-Matter Coupling Regime with Polariton Dots” , Y. Todorov, A. M. Andrews, R. Colombelli, S. De Liberato, C. Ciuti, P. Klang, G. Strasser, and C. Sirtori, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 196402 (2010).
[3] “Dipolar quantum electrodynamics theory of the three-dimensional electron gas”, Yanko Todorov, Phys. Rev. B 89, 075115 (2014).
[4] “Dipolar quantum electrodynamics of the two-dimensional electron gas”, Yanko Todorov, Phys. Rev. B 91, 125409 (2015).
[5] “Electronic transport driven by collective light-matter coupled states in a quantum device”
Francesco Pisani, Djamal Gacemi, Angela Vasanelli, Lianhe Li, Alexander Giles Davies, Edmund Linfield, Carlo Sirtori, and Yanko Todorov, Nature Communications 14, 3914 (2023).
[6] “Room temperature 9µm photodetectors and GHz heterodyne receivers”, D. Palaferri, Y. Todorov, A. Bigioli, A. Mottaghizadeh, D. Gacemi, A. Calabrese, A. Vasanelli, L. Li, A. G. Davies, E. H. Linfield, F. Kapsalidis, M. Beck, J. Faist, C. Sirtori, Nature 556 (7699), 85 (2018)
[7] “Absorption engineering in an ultra-subwavelength quantum system”, M. Jeannin, T. Bonazzi, D. Gacemi, A. Vasanelli, L. H Li, A. G. Davies, E. Linfield, C. Sirtori, and Y. Todorov, Nano Letters 20 (6) 4430–4436 (2020).
[8] “High temperature metamaterial TeraHertz quantum detector”, M. Jeannin, T. Bonazzi, D. Gacemi, A. Vasanelli, S. Suffit, L. Li, A. G. Davies, E. Linfield, C. Sirtori and Y. Todorov, Appl. Phys. Lett. 117, 251102 (2020).
[9] “Actively tunable laser action in GeSn nanomechanical oscillators”, Hyo-Jun Joo, Jiawen Liu, Melvina Chen, Daniel Burt, Baptiste Chomet, Youngmin Kim, Xuncheng Shi, Kunze Lu, Lin Zhang, Zoran Ikonic, Young-Ik Sohn, Chuan Seng Tan, Djamal Gacemi, Angela Vasanelli, Carlo Sirtori, Yanko Todorov, Donguk Nam, Nature Nanotechnology, 19, pages1116–1121 (2024).
[10] “Optomechanical terahertz detection with single meta-atom resonator”, C. Belacel, Y. Todorov, S. Barbieri, D. Gacemi, I. Favero, C. Sirtori, Nature Communications 8 (1), 1578 (2017).