Nanomaterials and optical instrumentation

光和物质之间的相互作用可以通过在足够小的尺度上控制材料的特性来调节、增强或抑制。当材料在与光波长相当的尺度上周期性地纹理时，共振散射会导致强烈的色散和光子带隙的出现。当织构的尺度进一步缩小到纳米尺度时，量子尺寸效应改变了材料本身的电子态和光学性质，就像在量子井、线和点中所看到的那样。考虑到纹理材料和纳米材料提供的各种可能性(商业、科学或其他方面)，可以理解的是，这一领域的研究目前非常活跃，而且很可能在未来十年内如此。考虑到这一点，该研究计划将集中在两个领域：1)用于光学应用的纳米材料和2)用于表征材料的新的光学方法和仪器。

Interaction between light and matter can be tuned, enhanced or inhibited by controlling the characteristic of a material on a small enough scale. When a material is periodically textured on a scale comparable to the wavelength of light, resonant scattering leads to strong dispersion and the appearance of photonic band gaps. When the scale of texturing is further reduced to the nanometer scale, quantum-size effects modify electronic states and the optical properties of the material itself, as can be seen in quantum wells, wires and dots. Considering the range of possibilities textured materials and nanomaterials offer (commercial, scientific or otherwise), it is understandable that this area of research is currently very active, and probably will be for the next decade. With this in mind, the research proposal will focus on two areas: 1) nanomaterials for optical applications and 2) novel optical methods and instruments to characterize materials.