Nano-Optics to controlled Nano-Chemistry Programme Grant (NOtCH)

我们可以使用复杂控制的金属组件雕刻成十亿分之一米的结构，将光线集中到微小的空间中。这种“纳米光学”使我们能够第一次接触到少量的分子和原子在真实的时间内运动。更有趣的是，我们可以开始利用光来控制分子和原子的运动，因为它可以直接在纳米尺度上产生强大的力。在这项研究中，我们计划利用我们新发现的能力，专注于医疗保健，信息技术和能源生产核心设备的一系列物理现象。例如，我们可以观察锂离子如何进出电池的一小块碎片，以及原子晶格的变形是如何产生的，这决定了电池的寿命和它们可以存储多少能量。另一个项目利用光来移动较大的碳基分子内部的金原子，以控制它们吸收的颜色以及它们可以感知的分子。进一步的项目是用微小的翻转组件制作壁纸，这些组件可以根据需要产生颜色变化，这是轻按开关就能变色或在卡车侧面显示图像或文字的墙壁的前身。所有这些都是在学习如何可靠地构建这种结构方面取得的重大进展，所以任何人都可以利用我们的新想法。当我们将分子放入这种压缩的纳米腔中时，我们对发生的事情知之甚少，这些基本原理将开辟新的领域。这项研究还至关重要地帮助我们了解我们可以创造什么样的新特性，并预测如何最好地改进它们。这将为下个世纪的许多新技术奠定基础。

We can use intricately controlled assemblies of metals carved into structures on the scale of a billionth of a metre, to funnel and concentrate light into tiny volumes of space. This 'nano-optics' allows us to access for the first time small numbers of molecules and atoms moving around in real time. Even more interesting we can start to use light to control the movement of molecules and atoms, since it can produce strong forces directly at the nanoscale.In this research, we plan to use our new-found ability to concentrate on a whole range of physical phenomena that underlie devices at the heart of healthcare, information technology, and energy production. For instance we can watch how lithium ions move into and out of a small fragment of battery, and how the deformations of the atomic lattice are produced, which is what determines how long batteries last and how much energy they can store. Another project uses light to move gold atoms around inside larger carbon-based molecules, to control what colour they absorb at, and what molecules they can sense. Further projects build wallpapers constructed from tiny flipping components that produce colour changes on demand, the precursor to walls that change colour at the flick of a switch or display images or text on the side of lorries.Underpinning all this are serious advances in learning how to build such structures reliably, so anyone can make use of our new ideas. We understand very little about what happens when we put molecules inside such compressed nano-cavities for light, and these fundamentals will open up new areas. This research also crucially helps us understand what new properties we can create, and predicts how to improve them best. This will lay open many of the new technologies of the next century.