Related papers: A light-driven three-dimensional plasmonic nanosys…
The efficiency of photo-conductive switches, which continue to be used for the generation and detection of THz waves, has been overlooked for a long time. The so far 'optics-dominated' devices are making their way through to new and…
Strong light-matter interactions enabled by surface plasmons have given rise to a wide range of photonic, optoelectronic and chemical functionalities. In recent years, the interest in this research area has focused on the quantum regime,…
To develop active nanomaterials that can instantly respond to external stimuli with designed mechanical motions is an important step towards the realization of nanomachines and nanorobots. Herein, we present our finding of a versatile…
Actuation remains a signifcant challenge in soft robotics. Actuation by light has important advantages: objects can be actuated from a distance, distinct frequencies can be used to actuate and control distinct modes with minimal…
Spin and angular momenta of light are important degrees of freedom in nanophotonics which control light propagation, optical forces and information encoding. Typically, optical angular momentum is generated using q-plates or spatial light…
We report the fabrication and electron transport properties of nanoparticles self-assembled networks (NPSAN) of molecular switches (azobenzene derivatives) interconnected by Au nanoparticles, and we demonstrate optically-driven switchable…
The inverse Faraday effect, the ability of light to act as a source of magnetism, is a cornerstone of modern ultrafast optics. Harnessing this effect at the nanoscale promises to transform data storage and spintronics, yet its predictive…
Natural photosynthetic photonic nanostructures can show sophisticated light matter-interactions including enhanced light absorption by slow light even for highly pigmented systems. Beyond fundamental biology aspects these natural…
Plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) hold tremendous promise for catalyzing light-driven chemical reactions. The conventionally assumed detrimental absorption loss from plasmon damping can now be harvested to drive chemical transformations of the…
Optical and optoelectronic techniques for micro- and nano-object manipulation are becoming essential tools in nano- and bio-technology. A remarkable optoelectronic technique that has experimented a strong development in the last few years…
In the past twenty years, we have reached a broad understanding of many light-driven phenomena in nanoscale systems. The temporal dynamics of the excited states are instead quite challenging to explore, and, at the same time, crucial to…
In-vivo, real-time study of the local and collective cellular biomechanical responses requires the fine and selective manipulation of the cellular environment. One innovative pathway is the use of photoactive bio-substrates such as…
The mechanical properties of azobenzene-containing polymer films are statistically measured by instrumented nanoindentation experiment in the dark and under illumination in the absorption band of the azobenzene molecules, with special…
We have observed reversible light-induced mechanical switching for a single organic molecule bound to a metal surface. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) was used to image the features of an individual azobenzene molecule on Au(111) before…
Manipulating external stimuli is crucial for enhancing and controlling the optical response in chiral structures. This study introduces chiral structures composed of single, dimer, or trimer arrays of plasmonic and magneto-plasmonic…
Nanoplasmonics exploits the coupling between light and collective electron density oscillations (plasmons) to bypass the stringent limits imposed by diffraction. This coupling enables confinement of light to sub-wavelength volumes and is…
Active metasurfaces promise spatiotemporal control over optical wavefronts, but achieving high-speed modulation with pixel-level control has remained an unmet challenge. While local phase control can be achieved with nanoscale optical…
We introduce a novel all-optical platform in multimode and multicore fibres. By using a low-power probe beam and a high-power counter-propagating control beam, we achieve advanced and dynamic control over light propagation within the…
Selective control of light is essential for optical science and technology with numerous applications. Nanophotonic waveguides and integrated couplers have been developed to achieve selective coupling and spatial control of an optical beam…
Computational hardware designed to mimic biological neural networks holds the promise to resolve the drastically growing global energy demand of artificial intelligence. A wide variety of hardware concepts have been proposed, and among…