Seminar Speaker: Andreas Fery, Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden

From Bioinspired Structure Formation to Particle-Based Metamaterials

Abstract

Metallic nanoparticles offer a number of interesting optical and electronic effects. A prominent example is localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), which is due to resonance excitations of the free electron cloud vibrations of the particles by light. Due to LSPR, plasmonic nanoparticles provide excellent opportunities for controlling electromagnetic near-fields at optical frequencies, which has led to a wide range of applications in various fields such as surface-enhanced spectroscopy, light harvesting, or photonics. 

While much of the research has been devoted to understanding nanoparticle synthesis and tailoring their LSPR at the single-particle level, the ordering of particles at different length scales opens another powerful route to optical and electronic functionality due to novel collective plasmonic excitations arising from plasmonic coupling effects. 

We focus on achieving such ordered particle arrays through assembly approaches. Colloidal self-assembly can indeed achieve well-defined colloidal clusters and surface arrays where coupling effects can be controlled. In particular, large-scale assemblies are possible in combination with biomimetic surface patterning. We discuss the underlying physicochemical principles of the assembly process and the resulting plasmonic coupling effects. Finally, we present perspectives on how this assembly principle can be applied to metasurfaces with high field enhancement and/or ultrahigh circular dichroism.

Biography

Andreas Fery has been the head of the Institute for Physical Chemistry/Polymer Physics at the Leibniz Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden since 2015.  He studied Physics at Konstanz University, where he received his diploma in 1996. He completed his Ph.D. at the Max-Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces (MPIKG)/Potsdam University in 2000. After a post-doc at Institute Curie Paris in 2001, he became a group leader at MPIKG and received his habilitation in 2006. In 2007 he joined Bayreuth University as an associate professor and was promoted to full professor in 2008. He received the Richard Zsigmondy Award of the German colloid society and an ERC starting grant. He has published more than 250 papers in peer-reviewed journals in the area of Polymer Science and Colloid and interface science which have been cited more than 15000 times resulting in an h-index of 65. His research interests are in the development of novel approaches for Responsive/Bio-interactive Coatings and Nanophotonic/Plasmonic Surface Assemblies. Both research directions benefit from expertise in Characterizing Mechanics and Interactions of Colloidal Particles on the single particle level, using Atomic force microscopy techniques. He is the deputy spokesperson of the German Colloid Society and treasurer of the European Colloid and Interface Society.