Event Details
Enhanced Emission, Optical Nonlinearities, and Mechanical Vibrations
Presenter: Dr. Matthew Pelton - Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL
Supervisor: Co-sponsored by CAMTEC
Date: Tue, October 13, 2009
Time: 14:00:00 - 15:00:00
Place: ECS 660
ABSTRACT
Abstract
Nanometer-scale metal particles interact strongly with light due to the excitation of surface plasmons, or collective oscillations of conduction electrons in the metal. By arranging the nanoparticles into controlled assemblies and coupling them to other materials, it will be possible to engineer the interaction with light in new ways, providing an unprecedented understanding of and control over the flow of electrical, optical, and mechanical energy on nanometer length scales and femtosecond time scales. In this talk, I will report progress towards these goals; in particular, I will focus on our attempts to overcome variations in nanoparticle size and shape and obtain a quantitative understanding of how nanometer-scale structure determines physical properties. Specifically, I will discuss (1) experimental and theoretical work on coupling optical emission from semiconductor nanocrystals to metal nanostructures; (2) measurements of ultrafast nonlinear optical scattering from individual gold nanorods; and (3) time-resolved measurements of the damping of acoustic vibrations in bipyramidal gold nanoparticles.
Biography
Dr. Matthew Pelton completed his bachelor's degree in Engineering Science at the University of Toronto in 1996, and his Ph.D. in Applied Physics at Stanford University in 2002. Following postdoctoral appointments at the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden and at the University of Chicago, he moved to the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory, where he has been a staff scientist since 2006. His current research focuses on developing hybrid nanomaterials with new optical and physical properties that emerge from the interaction among strongly coupled nanoscale components.
Coffee and cookies will be served.
For further information please contact:
Dr. Reuven Gordon
Phone: (250) 472-5179 / email: rgordon@uvic.ca)