Exploring photochemistry when distance matters: from supramolecular systems to plasmon-enhanced optical properties.

光是地球上生命的主要能量来源，对光的控制使人类文明进化到今天的现代社会。今天，许多我们认为理所当然的技术，从智能手机到日常的电子支付，都要归功于光子学，即光的科学。光子学代表着价值6500亿加元的全球市场，在加拿大创造了近46亿加元的年收入。尽管智能手机似乎人人都有，但在加拿大，基于光子的技术仍然很低调。阻碍该行业发展的一个主要挑战是，从液态到固态应用缺乏可预测性。换句话说，在理想条件下在实验室中发现的分子特性可能无法转化为光子技术，在光子技术中分子彼此非常接近。我的研究项目的基本目标就是解决这一挑战。NSERC的资助将使我的研究团队能够设计和合成“智能分子”和纳米颗粒，从而在分子水平上理解与分子接近相关的光学和光化学变化。这些基本的科学知识是赋予光子工业先验的难以捉摸的可预测性的关键，从而提高了光子技术的性能、准确性和最终成本。我的团队进行的研究为加拿大在光子学领域从小玩家提升到世界领导者提供了新的机会

Light is the major source of energy that powers life on earth, and controlling it enabled the evolution of human civilization to our current modern society. Today, many of the technologies we take for granted, from smartphones to routine electronic payment, exist thanks to photonics, the science of light. Photonics represents a $CAD 650 billion dollar global market, generating close to $CAD 4.6 billion dollars in annual revenue in Canada. Although smartphones seem to be in every hand, photonic-based technologies remain low profile in Canada. A major challenge retarding this industry is the lack of predictability in going from liquid solution to solid state application. In other words, the properties of molecules discovered in the laboratory under idealized conditions might not translate into photonic technologies, where molecules are in close proximity to one another. ***The fundamental goal of my research program is to address this challenge. NSERC funding will enable my research team to engineer and synthesize both “smart molecules” and nanoparticles that permit a molecular level understanding of the optical and photochemical changes associated with molecular proximity. This fundamental scientific knowledge is key to empowering the photonic industry with an a priori elusive predictability, thus improving performance, accuracy and ultimately cost of photonic technologies. The research conducted by my group fosters new opportunities for Canada to be promoted from minor player to world leader in photonics.**