Laureates 2010
Materials Science and Engineering Department
Geballe Laboratory of Advanced Materials
Stanford University
McCullough Bldg, Rm 349
476 Lomita Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-4045
Email: Brongersma@stanford.edu
Website: http://www.stanford.edu/group/BrongersmaGroup/
Active Plasmonic Devices Employing Extreme Light Concentration
The field of optics has a long and colorful history and by now the development of advanced optical structures has enabled tremendous control over the propagation and manipulation of light waves. This control is utilized in many important technological applications, including optical microscopy, solar cells, efficient solid state light sources that could replace conventional light bulbs. It also plays an important role in biotechnology, medicine, and the modern day telecommunications industry. Until recently, it was thought that the manipulation of light was limited by the fundamental laws of diffraction to relatively large, wavelength scale (about 1 µm) components. Plasmonics is an exploding new field of science and technology in which the flow of light can be molded and actively manipulated at the nanoscale using metallic nanostructures. This newly found ability is rapidly impacting every facet of optics and photonics and enables a myriad of exciting new technologies. I will illustrate how many of the most successful plasmonics applications make use of at least one of two unique properties of metals. One special property of metals is that they can perform simultaneous electronic and optical functions. The second unique property of metallic structures is their ability to concentrate light to nanoscale dimensions. I will conclude with a critical comparison of plasmonics and high confinement semiconductor devices.
Biosketch
Mark Brongersma is an Associate Professor and Keck Faculty Scholar in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. He leads a research team of twelve students and four postdocs. Their research is directed towards the development and physical analysis of new materials and structures that find use in nanoscale electronic and photonic devices. His most recent work has focused on Si-based light-emitting materials, light sources, modulators, detectors, and metallic nanostructures that can manipulate and actively control the flow of light at the nanoscale. Brongersma has given over 50 invited presentations in the last 5 years on the topic of nanophotonics and plasmonics. He has also presented 3 tutorials at International conferences on these topics. He has authored\co-authored over 75 publications and holds a number of patents in the area of Si microphotonics and plasmonics. He received a National Science Foundation Career Award, the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, and is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America. Dr. Brongersma received his PhD in Materials Science from the FOM Institute in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in 1998. From 1998-2001 he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the California Institute of Technology.
| Announcement of Laureates 2010 |