Nano-Optics to controlled Nano-Chemistry Programme Grant (NOtCH)

Completed

Not Energy Related
Other Power and Storage Technologies(Energy storage)

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Physics)

Not Cross-cutting

Professor JJ Baumberg
Physics
University of Cambridge

Standard

EPSRC

01 October 2014

31 March 2021

78 months

£4,644,894

Materials sciences

East of England

NC : Physical Sciences

Professor JJ Baumberg, Physics, University of Cambridge

Professor O Hess, Department of Physics (the Blackett Laboratory), Imperial College London
Dr OA Scherman, Chemistry, University of Cambridge
Professor U Steiner, Physics, University of Cambridge

Project Contact, National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
Project Contact, Nokia Research Centre
Project Contact, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), Russia
Project Contact, Cambridge Enterprise
Project Contact, Microsoft Research Ltd
Project Contact, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Fdn Trust
Project Contact, BP International Ltd
Project Contact, DSTL - Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

We can use intricately controlled assemblies of metals carved into structures on the scale of a billionth of a metre, to funnel and concentrate light into tiny volumes of space. This 'nano-optics' allows us to access for the first time small numbers of molecules and atoms moving around in real time. Even more interesting we can start to use light to control the movement of molecules and atoms, since it can produce strong forces directly at the nanoscale.In this research, we plan to use our new-found ability to concentrate on a whole range of physical phenomena that underlie devices at the heart of healthcare, information technology, and energy production. For instance we can watch how lithium ions move into and out of a small fragment of battery, and how the deformations of the atomic lattice are produced, which is what determines how long batteries last and how much energy they can store. Another project uses light to move gold atoms around inside larger carbon-based molecules, to control what colour they absorb at, and what molecules they can sense. Further projects build wallpapers constructed from tiny flipping components that produce colour changes on demand, the precursor to walls that change colour at the flick of a switch or display images or text on the side of lorries. Underpinning all this are serious advances in learning how to build such structures reliably, so anyone can make use of our new ideas. We understand very little about what happens when we put molecules inside such compressed nano-cavities for light, and these fundamentals will open up new areas. This research also crucially helps us understand what new properties we can create, and predicts how to improve them best. This will lay open many of the new technologies of the next century

11/12/14