Line description

The research line on Photonics at the CFM deals with the study of the interaction of radiation and matter from two different and complementary approaches: (i) the interaction of light with metallic and semiconductor nanostructures to confine and engineer electromagnetic fields on the nanoscale, and (ii) the research on the optical properties of new materials and elements that provide improved properties in a variety of lasing effects, as well as the design of novel photonic structures that provide laser confinement for bioimaging.

The line is composed by two different sublines of research, including theoretical and experimental activity:

Nanophotonics, deals mainly with the description of the optical properties of nanoscale structures: i) Nanoparticle plasmonics in metallic nanosystems is one of the main aspects of research in this line. The excitation of surface plasmons in nanoscale metallic particles allows for an effective squeezing of light into the nanoscale, assisting in field-enhanced spectroscopy and microscopy. Among other techniques theoretically studied we can cite Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering, Surface-enhanced Infrared Absorption, Electron Energy Loss spectroscopy, Scattering-type Scanning near field Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, and surface-enhanced molecular fluorescence. ii) Semiconductor low-dimensional systems is another set of nanoscale structures that are covered. The electronic structure and optical properties of semiconductor quantum dots (nanocrystals) and quantum wells can be theoretically described, and experimental results of photoluminescence can be related to the theoretical predictions. iii) Experimentally, mechanisms of energy transfer and conversion in the nanoscale are studied using absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, and antibunching setups.

Laser Physics and Photonic Materials, is located in the Department of Applied Physics of the School of Engineering of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in Bilbao, and devotes the research efforts mainly to the optoelectronic properties of new materials and structures for solid state lasing and photonic crystal properties. This subline devotes its research efforts to the study of dielectric materials and elements that improve the lasing properties in a variety of materials. Its activity also covers the development of a complete set of high resolution techniques, the development of new low-energy phonon rare earth-doped dielectric materials for energy converters and/or solid state laser cooling applications, and the probing, characterizing, and modeling transport and/or confinement of ultrafast ultra-intense laser light in inhomogeneous (nano- micro) dielectric materials doped with optically active centers for nanosensors, displays, and bioimaging applications.

The general goal of this research line is to develop research capabilities in the generic study of the optoelectronic properties of novel and complex materials and structures that might have direct impact in a variety of disciplines such as in Materials Science, Health Sciences and Nanotechnology. To achieve this objective, the line investigates the optical response of metallic and semiconductor nanoscale structures, acting as effective optical nanoantennas, and develops new photonic materials for solid state optoelectronic devices based on optically active nano-micro dielectric structures tailored on demand by using ultrafast linear and/or nonlinear optical writing. Furthermore, particular interest is placed into the spectroscopy and photonic applications of nano-scale functional units, including semiconductor quantum dots and quantum wires, metal nanoparticles, wires and nanoantenas and organic/inorganic nano-hybrid systems. Our approach always considers the possible technological applications that could be derived from our basic research.