AMOLF's scope of research

Quality, ambition, and multidisciplinary inspiration are AMOLF's guiding
principles in carrying out its mission. AMOLF's research programme focuses on two main themes:

Physics of Biomolecular Systems, focusing on the study of collective
and active mechanisms in the spatial and temporal organization of the
"hardware" (biomolecular structures) and "software" (biochemical
networks) of cells. Fundamental research on the physical basis of these
mechanisms will inspire the design of new functional materials, and
will contribute to the "systems-level" understanding of biological
systems needed for future breakthroughs in medicine and healthcare.
This research programme explores existing strengths in soft matterand
biophysics, femtophysics, mass spectrometry and computational
physics. It is organised in three coherent themes, each benefiting from
the concerted effort of four to six research groups with complementary
experimental and theoretical expertise:
- Biomolecular dynamics and interactions
- Supramolecular structures and active biomaterials
- Spatio-temporal design of biomolecular networks

Nanophotonics, focusing on the manipulation of light in artificially
engineered nanostructures, with the aim of controlling and
understanding emission, concentration and propagation of light.
Fundamental research on the generation, manipulation, confinement,
scattering and amplification of light at length scales smaller than the
wavelength of light may lead to novel functional devices that are
applied in communication, information and medical technology. The
programme is organised in three coherent themes, each benefiting from
the concerted effort of three to five research groups with
complementary experimental and theoretical expertise:
- Photonic and plasmonic light sources,
- Dispersion control and nanoscale confinement of light,
- Photonic integrated circuits.

In addition to the two main programmes, AMOLF carries out an
Exploratory Research Programme. This programme serves to identify new
strategically important research directions, and is used to start smallscale
research projects that may later grow into new main directions of
AMOLF's research programme. It also includes projects that do not
naturally fit in either of the two main research programmes, but operate
between them or play an important role in providing technology and
infrastructure important to both.