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Applications: Nanophotonics and Plasmonics

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Nanotechnology Research Directions for Societal Needs in 2020

Part of the book series: Science Policy Reports ((SCIPOLICY,volume 1))

Abstract

Both nanophotonics and plasmonics concern investigations into building, manipulating, and characterizing optically active nanostructures with a view to creating new capabilities in instrumentation for the nanoscale, chemical and biomedical sensing, information and communications technologies, enhanced solar cells and lighting, disease treatment, environmental remediation, and many other applications. Photonics and plasmonics share the characteristic that at least some of their basic concepts have been known for 40–50 years, but they have come into their own only in the last 10 years, based on recent discoveries in nanoscience. Photonic materials and devices have played a pervasive role in communications, energy conversion, and sensing since the 1960s and 1970s. Photonics at the nanoscale, or nanophotonics might be defined as “the science and engineering of light-matter interactions that take place on wavelength and subwavelength scales where the physical, chemical, or structural nature of natural or artificial nanostructure matter controls the interactions” [1]. Broadly speaking, over the next 10 years nanophotonic structures and devices promise dramatic reductions in energies of device operation, densely integrated information systems with lower power dissipation, enhanced spatial resolution for imaging and patterning, and new sensors of increased sensitivity and specificity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

     10−15 of a second.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Evelyn L. Hu

  2. Stanford University, Durand Building, 496 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305-4034, USA

    Mark Brongersma

  3. Corning, Inc., 1 Riverfront Plaza, Corning, NY, 14831-0001, USA

    Adra Baca

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  1. Evelyn L. Hu
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  2. Mark Brongersma
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  3. Adra Baca
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Correspondence to Evelyn L. Hu .

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Hu, E.L., Brongersma, M., Baca, A. (2011). Applications: Nanophotonics and Plasmonics. In: Nanotechnology Research Directions for Societal Needs in 2020. Science Policy Reports, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1168-6_10

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