AMADEus Seminar - Prof. Javier Aizpurua - Wednesday 7 february 2018 - 11:00 am ICMCB (Amphi)
le Wednesday 07 February 2018 from 11h to 12hProf. Javier Aizpurua
Theory of Nanophotonics Group
Center for Materials Physics (CSIC-UPV/EHU) and DIPC
Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
Nanophotonics with plasmons: driving photonics to the atomic scale
Abstract
Electronic excitations and vibrations of molecules can be efficiently excited and enhanced by the action of optical resonators which improve the interaction between light and matter. Plasmonic cavities emerge as a special type of optical resonators which reduce the electromagnetic effective mode volumes down to the nanoscale and dramatically enhance local near-fields, thus allowing to bring molecular spectroscopy such as fluorescence or Raman scattering to extreme levels of detection and manipulation, reaching the single-molecule regime. Furthermore, atomic-scale morphological features in plasmonic cavities produce the ultimate confinement of light, setting sub-nanometric access and control of single-molecule electronic excitations and nanoscale molecular optomechanics. To describe the interaction of light and matter at this extreme level, quantum theoretical frameworks need to be developed.