Events Calendar

PLASMONICS: FROM ARTIFICIAL MOLECULES TO REAL APPLICATIONS

Munushian Visiting Seminar Series
Presents Dr. Naomi J. Halas, Stanley C. Moore Professor at Rice University Abstract:
In recent years we have shown that certain metallic nanoparticles possess collective electronic resonances- known as plasmon resonances- that depend very sensitively on the shape of the nanostructure. This interesting observation has led to a fundamentally new paradigm- "Plasmon Hybridization"- where the collective electronic resonances in a metallic nanostructure can be understood to be a direct classical analog of the single electron wave functions of simple atoms and molecules. The Plasmon hybridization picture explains the tunability of nanoshells, a dielectric core, metallic shell nanoparticle which is the simplest nanostructure with tunable plasmon resonances. More importantly, it provides a nanoscale "design rule" for understanding the plasmon resonances in an entirely new family of plasmonic nanostructures, and for the coupling of plasmonic nanostructures to meso- and macroscopic structures such as nanowires, thin metallic films, or other structures. Controlling the resonant optical properties of nanostructures allows one to control the local field at the nanostructure surface, so these structures can be thought of as precision optical components, although they are far smaller than a wavelength of light. We can exploit these new optical components in a variety of applications, ranging from dramatic enhancement of weakly emitting fluorescent media to label-free chemical detection. In addition, by tuning plasmon resonances into the near infrared region of the spectrum, the physiological "water window" can be accessed, where blood is essentially transparent and light penetrates maximally through human tissue. We have developed a suite of applications for plasmonic nanoparticles in biomedicine, including photothermal cancer therapy, currently in clinical trials. Biography:
Naomi Halas is the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University, where she also holds faculty appointments in the Departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Bioengineering. She joined Rice following a postdoctoral fellowship at AT&T Bell Laboratories. She is author of more than 180 refereed publications, has more than ten issued patents, and has presented more than 300 invited talks. She is best known scientifically as the inventor of nanoshells, nanoparticles with tunable optical resonances that span the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum. Halas has studied their properties and pursued applications of nanoshells in biomedicine and chemical sensing. She is co-founder of Nanospectra Biosciences, Inc., a company currently commercializing a photothermal cancer therapy based on nanoshells. She is founder and Director of the Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) at Rice, which supports collaborations and interactions among researchers at Rice and other institutions nationally and internationally in the emerging field of Plasmon-based optics and applications. She is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of five professional societies: the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE), the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and an Associate Editor of Nano Letters.

Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - co Neurosciences Building, HNB 100

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Hazel Xavier