Pino Strangi (CWRU Physics)

Date: Thu. November 8th, 2018, 4:00 pm-5:00 pm
Location: Rockefeller 301

Plasmons at the Interface Between Physics and Cancer Nanotechnology: The Next Big Thing will be at the Nanoscale

In recent years significant efforts have been made to design and fabricate functional nanomaterials for biomedical applications. These research activities unlocked a complete new research field known as nano-biophotonics. Extreme optics of artificial materials characterized by hyperbolic dispersion allowed to access new physical effects and mechanisms. The unbound isofrequency surface of hyperbolic metamaterials opened the way for virtually infinite photonic density of states and ultrahigh confinement of electromagnetic fields in multilayered nanostructures. This has lead to speed up significantly the spontaneous emission of quantum emitters¹, transistor random lasers² and unparalleled biosensing properties³. Optical sensor technology based on plasmonic metamaterials offers significant opportunities in the field of clinical diagnostics, particularly for the detection of lower-molecular-weight biomarkers. This seminar will review how we harness and control light-matter interaction at the nanoscale by designing artificial plasmonic materials with fascinating extreme optical properties. 

[1]  K. V. Sreekanth, K. Hari Krishna, A. De Luca and Giuseppe Strangi, SCIENTIFIC REPORTS 4, 6340 (2014)

[2] K.V. Sreekanth, Y. Alapan, M. ElKabbash, U.A. Gurkan, E. Ilker, M. Hinczewski, A. De Luca and G. Strangi                          NATURE MATERIALS 15, 4 4609 (2016)

[3]   S. Perumbilavil, A. Piccardi, R. Barboza, O. Buchnev, M. Kauranen, G. Strangi, and G. Assanto, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS 9, Article number: 3863 (2018)