Past events

PicoPhotonics: Extreme Nano-Optics with single molecules and monolayers

Professor Jeremy J. Baumberg, FRS, NanoPhotonics Centre, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK

Abstract

Coupling between coinage metal ‘plasmonic’ nano-components generates strongly red-shifted optical resonances combined with intense local light amplification on the nanoscale. I will show how we now create ultralow volume plasmonic cavities trapping light to less than 1nm3. This allows us to routinely watch individual molecules and bonds vibrating. Using DNA origami we can now couple 1-4 dye molecules together optomechanically, and produce strong-light matter coupling that changes their quantum emission properties. We also watch redox chemistry in real time, watching single electrons shuttle in and out of single molecules, as well as 2D materials confined in the same gap. Prospective applications range from (bio)molecular sensing to fundamental quantum science.

Biography

Prof. Jeremy J. Baumberg FRS, directs a UK Nano-Photonics Centre at the University of Cambridge and has extensive experience in developing optical materials structured on the nano-scale that can be assembled in large volume. He is also Director of the Cambridge Nano Doctoral Training Centre, a key UK site for training PhD students in interdisciplinary Nano research. Strong experience with Hitachi, IBM, and his own spin-offs help him combine academic insight with industry application. With over 20000 citations, he is a leading innovator in Nano. This has led to awards of the IoP Faraday gold Medal (2017), Royal Society Rumford Medal (2014), IoP Young Medal (2013), Royal Society Mullard Prize (2005), the IoP Charles Vernon Boys Medal (2000) and the IoP Mott Lectureship (2005). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Optical Society of America, the Institute of Physics, and the Institute of NanoTechnology [see np.phy.cam.ac.uk]