Visiting world experts in plasmonics, Professor Harold Giessen and Dr Laura Na Liu recently enlightened audiences at MCN.
Chair of Ultrafast Nanooptics in the Department of Physics at the University of Stuttgart, Prof. Harald Giessen discussed complex plasmonics, taking a look at the fundamentals before discussing their possible applications. Plasmonics is the technology based on electrical resonances excited by light on metal nano particles that enables the properties of light to be manipulated at the nano scale.
Prof. Giessen touched on chirality with a plasmonic model system, before discussing non-reciprocal plasmonics for controlling the polarization of light, known as the Faraday Rotation. He finished by presenting a number of novel sensing applications, ranging from 3D rulers for measuring displacements of molecules to novel plasmonic gas and liquid sensors.
A group leader at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and recipient of the prestigious Sofja Kovalevskaja Award, Dr. Laura Na Liu shared her work on three dimensional DNA plasmonics. She discussed the control of complex arrangements of 3D plasmonic structures using DNA self-assembly or DNA origami. Due to the intrinsic programmability and excellent functionalities of DNA, the plasmonic nanomachine can respond to external stimulus upon recognition of biochemical events or stimulated movements of the DNA template. These 'smart' plasmonic nanostructures can be used as sensors for biological systems to help answer questions of structural biology.
The talks by Prof. Giessen and Dr. Liu were organized by MCN Technology Fellows, Tim Davis and Daniel Gomez from CSIRO.
