News & updates
Latest developments from our institute
Stay informed about new research results, awards, events, and collaborations across our scientific community.
One-way traffic for motion in new material
Scientists have developed a material that breaks one of the fundamental principles governing many physical systems. Ordinary materials transmit external forces equally, no matter where the pressure comes from. The newly developed material breaks this rule and could potentially be of interest in soft-robotics or shock absorption related applications. The research team from AMOLF, Leiden University and the University of Texas at Austin published their findings on 13 February in Nature.
Folding reconfigurable materials : Toolkit to design metamaterials with programmable shape and function
During his PhD research at Harvard University, AMOLF group leader Bas Overvelde developed a smart method for designing and investigating new metamaterials. For such materials the microstructure determines the function, rather than the molecular composition. The ideal metamaterial changes shape autonomously to achieve the desired functionality. Overvelde and his American colleagues developed a toolkit to design such metamaterials that can assume different shapes in a manner reminiscent of origami. They published their research on 19 January 2017 in Nature.
Solar cell wonder material surprises researchers : Unexpected experimental results lead to a better understanding of promising perovskite
Physicists at AMOLF have unraveled the mysterious working mechanism of a promising new class of materials for solar cells. Their pressure experiments with perovskite semiconductors had very counter-intuitive results, which could not be explained by the theory for conventional semiconductors. However, the results matched surprisingly well with a novel theory developed at Imperial College in London, predicting a peculiar band structure in perovskite materials. “Theory and experiments came together perfectly and helped us solve an important part of the perovskite puzzle”, says AMOLF group leader Bruno Ehrler, who published the results in Energy & Environmental Science on 23 December 2016.
New imaging techniques
Researchers in the Nanoscale Solar Cells group at AMOLF have recently published two papers, one in Nature Communications and one in Nanoscale, demonstrating new imaging techniques for investigating the nanoscale properties of materials.
AMOLF researchers make one-way street for light
Researchers at FOM institute AMOLF and the University of Texas at Austin have created a compact one-way street for light. That is remarkable because light waves can generally move in both directions inside a material. Optical chips could benefit from the new functionality, as it enables a new way to route data encoded in the light signals. The researchers published their results in Nature Communications on 29 November.
EPS QEOD Research into the Science of Light Prize voor Albert Polman
De Quantum Electronics and Optics Division (QEOD) van de European Physical Society (EPS) heeft de Research into the Science of Light 2017 toegekend aan AMOLF groepsleider Albert Polman. Hij ontvangt de prijs voor “het beheersen en manipuleren van licht op de nanoschaal en de ontwikkeling van nieuwe toepassingen in optische circuits op de nanoschaal, photovoltaics en superresolutie imaging. De prijs wordt in januari 2017 uitgereikt tijdens de 6th International Topical Meeting on Nanophotonics and Metamaterials (Nanometa) in Seefeld, Oostenrijk.
Universal clamping protein stabilizes folded proteins
New insight into how the chaperone protein Hsp70 works On October 26th Nature will publish a study that overturns the decades-old textbook model of action for a protein that is central for many processes in living cells. Researchers at the FOM Institute AMOLF and the University of Heidelberg show that the protein Hsp70 can mechanically stabilize folded proteins using a moveable lid, and thus protect them against stress and damage. This insight into how proteins help each other offers a new perspective on diverse cellular functions and can ultimately lead to a better understanding of diseases like cancer and Parkinson’s, in which failing protein systems are central.
Hybrid structures on the cover of ACS Photonics
Optical cavities or metallic antennas are frequently used to enhance interactions between light and a single quantum emitter. We argue that hybrid systems combining an antenna and a cavity can achieve stronger interactions than the cavity or antenna alone. Through subtle interference effects, these systems can break the fundamental limit for single antennas and benefit simultaneously from the long photon lifetime in the cavity and the strong confinement near the antenna. As highlighted by the example on the cover, this also causes stronger light emission than in a cavity only.