Professor Francisco José Rodríguez-Fortuño is Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics, King's College London. He is a member of the Photonics & Nanotechnology Group and the London Centre for Nanotechnology.

Franciso leads the Photonic Angular Momentum, Chirality & Optical Forces (PACO) Photonics Group. Visit the group's research website for highlights including latest news, team members, software and publications.

His research explores how light waves behave and interact with matter in the near field, with particular interest in nano-optics, optical forces, structured light, spin-orbit interactions, optical nanoantennas, and the angular momentum of light. Authoring over 86 research papers, his work has introduced new concepts for controlling light, including the Janus dipole, and seeks applications in optical information routing, sensing, and the manipulation and separation of chiral molecules.

After completing a PhD in Telecommunications Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV, Spain), with a 9 month research stay at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn, USA), he joined King’s as a postdoctoral researcher in 2014 and became a Lecturer in 2015, Senior Lecturer in 2018, Reader in 2021 and Professor in 2026.

He led the ERC Starting Grant PSINFONI investigating optical interactions between particles and nearby surfaces and leads the ERC Consolidator Grant ATLANTIS investigating optical and acoustic near fields under unconventional spatial and temporal structures. He is a theme co-lead in the EPSRC META4D Programme Grant and was a work-package leader in the European EIC Pathfinder CHIRALFORCE consortium.

His seminal contributions to spin-orbit interaction optics have been recognized by the International Commission for Optics (ICO) Prize. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has received King’s and Faculty awards for teaching innovation and sustained excellence.

Research

• Nanophotonics and metamaterials
• Near-field optics and evanescent waves
• Spin and orbital angular momentum of light
• Structured light and electromagnetic symmetries
• Optical forces, torques and nanoparticle manipulation
• Chiral light–matter interactions and molecular separation
• Time-varying photonics and spatiotemporal waves

Prof. Rodríguez-Fortuño’s research investigates how light behaves and interacts with matter at the nanoscale. His work focuses particularly on optical near fields, where electromagnetic waves display unusual properties that are hidden in conventional far-field measurements. He studies the spin and orbital angular momentum of light, spin–orbit interactions, structured waves, electromagnetic symmetries, and the optical forces and torques exerted on small particles.

A central aim of his research is to discover fundamental phenomena and translate them into new ways of controlling light and matter. His contributions include the Janus dipole, a nanoscale source that can route light selectively, and new theoretical frameworks for describing electromagnetic energy, momentum and spin.

Prof. Rodríguez-Fortuño teaches in the Physics Department. His courses include first-year Mathematics & Computation and the second-year Electromagnetism. His teaching uses flipped classrooms, collaborative pre-reading, interactive simulations, coding demonstrations and multimedia resources to make mathematical and electromagnetic concepts accessible and engaging. His educational work has received awards from both King’s and the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences for teaching innovation and sustained excellence.

He supervises PhD researchers working in nanophotonics, near-field optics, structured light, optical forces and the angular momentum of light. He has graduated four PhD students as first supervisor and currently supervises doctoral researchers as both first and second supervisor.