seed projects

Renee Frontiera, Russell Holmes, Tony Low, Sang-Hyun Oh:
Materials and Photonic Design Rules for Polaritonics

Artistic illustration depicting polariton formation between molecular vibration (polar phonons) and light in resonant nanocavities. Ring-shaped coaxial nanocavities created in a gold film can be designed to couple radiation to any inter- or intra-molecular vibration in a very efficient manner.

This Seed team will leverage both established and novel polaritonic structures to drive chemical and physical processes with light. Polaritons are entangled hybrid light-matter states that modify potential energy landscapes and can be used to steer and direct charges. The team is interdisciplinary and complementary with expertise in theory and optical design, photonic nanocavity engineering, materials engineering, and spectroscopic characterization. Research activities will focus on manipulating material properties using strongly coupled photonic and plasmonic nanostructures.

Funded by the National Science Foundation through the University of Minnesota MRSEC under Award Number DMR-2011401