News & updates
Latest developments from our institute
Stay informed about new research results, awards, events, and collaborations across our scientific community.
Vogel spirals for lighting
Periodic arrays of plasmonic nanoantennas can enhance the directionality of light emission of nearby fluorophores. Unfortunately, their narrow spectral bandwidth and the anisotropy of their optical resonances limit the use…
Perspective in ACS Photonics on Single Photon Nano-antennas
The Perspective paper “single photon nano-antennas” in ACS Photonics reviews the use of plasmon antennas for single-photon applications. The idea to use plasmon antennas for single-photon sources was first conceived…
IOP-NJP outstanding Referee
IOP, the publisher of New Journal of Physics decided to confer an Outstanding Referee Award for 2016 on Femius Koenderink. Many thanks to IOP for recognising their Referees, and for…
Science class in Ermelo
On february 15th, my colleague Bruno Ehrler and I explained the physics, technology and economoy of solar power, LED lights and optical communications to an audience of 45 primary school…
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.
Highlights of nanophotonics published in Science
The research field of nanophotonics, the science and application of light at the nanoscale, has seen a rapid growth in the last years, with AMOLF researchers among the pioneers. In a recent article in Science, AMOLF group leaders Femius Koenderink and Albert Polman together with Andrea Alù, visiting professor from the University of Texas, review scientific highlights, applications and a future perspective of light at the nanoscale.
Visiting professor Andrea Alù wins Alan T. Waterman Award
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has named Andrea Alù as the recipient of this year’s Alan T. Waterman Award. Professor Alù (University of Texas in Austin) is currently KNAW visiting professor at AMOLF’s Center for Nanophotonics.
Vici grant for Femius Koenderink
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded a Vici grant to AMOLF group leader Femius Koenderink. A total of 216 researchers submitted a pre-prososal. Out of 132 elaborated proposals, 36 researchers now receive a Vici grant of up to 1.500.000 euro.