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Light-induced microparticles bubble drive

So far, light-driven microparticles motion is based on momentum transfer between the beam and the particles in what is otherwise known as optical tweezers. The momentum of light is however weak, while limits the forces of optical tweezers to pico-Newton at best. If we could somehow harness the energy of a light beam to create motion we could possibly achieve much stronger forces. This project aims to do exactly that. The energy transfer, in this case, is facilitated by the expansion and collapse of bubbles of the immersion liquid.

Advanced light trapping for solar cell

The ability to trap light is instrumental for high-efficiency solar cells. Despite the advances of light trapping schemes that exploit plasmonics, photonics, and other concepts from the realm of near field nano-optics, it is still Lambertian trapping that defines the efficiencies of solar cells for more than 30 years to date. In this project, we develop a light-trapping method that can significantly surpass the Lambertian trapping without the complexity of near-field optics.

Nonlinear optics of metals at the extreme subwavelength scale

This project studies the possibility of nonlinear optics on metals from collective charge oscillations at the Bulk of the particle. This kind of phenomenon can happen only at dimensions smaller than the penetration depth of electromagnetic radiation, typically 10nm for metals. This mechanism is therefore fundamentally different form the usual surface nonlinearity of metals. It is likewise expected that this type of nonlinear optical interaction may lead to much stronger conversion efficiencies.  

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