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Research Professor Institute for Materials Science – Nanochemistry and Nanoengineering CAU-Kiel University Kaiserstrasse 2, 24143 Kiel, Germany me(at)tf.uni-kiel.de |
Macroscopic optical antennas with glassy disordered dipolar composites
During the last years, there has been increasing interest in functional nanocomposites due to novel applications ranging from sensors and plasmonics through stretchable electronics and smart coatings to energy conversion and human health. In this context a dipolar composite with a cooperative macroscopic action has not been suggested so far. The present talk aims at introducing a particularly promising new class of functional optical materials based on natural and artificial dipoles embedded in a polymeric/dielectric host where the unique properties arise from the strong and cooperative near field coupling between neighbouring dipoles, which gives rise to cooperative action thus determining the macroscopic properties. Examples involve transparent conducting metal coatings, perfect plasmonic absorbers, active plasmonic and photoswitchable composites.
Acknowledgements – Financial support by the Initiative Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association and DFG within the Collaborative Research Centers SFB 677 are acknowledged.
CV
Dr. Mady Elbahri, born in Egypt, holds both German and Palestinian citizenship. He obtained a B.Sc. in chemistry from Cairo University, Egypt, and received his M.Sc. in polymer chemistry from the Technical University of Clausthal, Germany. He then moved to the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Kiel where he received his PhD “with highest honors” in the field of nanotechnology. He has been honored with the “Nano Science Award” of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (AGeNT-D/BMBF). In 2009 he was granted a Helmholtz-University Group of Academic Talents. Elbahri is the head of the Nanochemistry and Nanoengineering group located at the Institute of Polymer Research at Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht and at the Institute for Materials Science at the University of Kiel. Mady Elbahri holds more than 15 patents in the U.S.A., Europe and Germany. He works in new fields of research and establishes new aspects of nanosynthesis, nanopatterning, nanocomposites, and bionano applications along with the development of several devices using chemical and physical methods.
