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Single fluorescent molecules probe the nanoscale optical field

Molecular Nanophotonics

Prof. Dr. Niek van Hulst

    Activities:

Our central goal is to control light interaction at the nanometer scale. To this end we use individual molecules and quantum dots as nano-sources/detectors. These single quantum systems are ideal local field probes of the local mode density in photonic nanostructures, showing specific lifetime, spectrum, polarisation and even direction of photon emission. To generate strong nanoscale optical fields we fabricate optical nano-antennas, tuned in resonance with the photon emitters. Research topics: Emission control, nano-focusing and nanoscale imaging by nano-antenna probes, scanned in controlled proximity to single photon emitters. Coherent control of molecular dynamics and nanoscale antenna fields by phase controlled excitation with few-fs broad band pulses.

    Available Resources
  • Single molecule detection: imaging, fluorescence lifetime, spectra
  • Heterodyne near-field optical microscope: phase mapping, pulse tracking
  • Aperture type near-field optical microscope
  • Confocal fluorescence - atomic force microscope
  • Lasers: fs-OPO-system, Ti:S-lasers, ps-diode-lasers, Ar/Kr+, HeNe, etc.
  • Pulse shapers: spectral shaper & acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter
  • ICFO-NPL: NanoPhotonics Laboratory, e-beam lithography, SEM, ALD, photolitho, etc.
    Collaborations:
  • Lukas Novotny, Inst. of optics, University of Rochester, USA
  • Romain Quidant, ICFO, Castelldefels, Spain
  • Maria Garcia-Parajo, ICFO, Castelldefels, Spain
  • Renaud Vallee, Research Centre Paul Pascal, Bordeaux, France
  • Javier Garcia de Abajo, CSIC, Institute of Optics, Madrid, Spain
  • Luis Martin-Moreno, CSIC, University of Zaragoza, Spain
  • Cefe Lopez, CSIC-ICMM, Institute of Material Science Madrid, Spain
  • Luis Liz-Marzan, University of Vigo, Spain
  • Marcos Dantus, Igor Pastirk, BioPhotonics Solutions, Inc,
  • Peter Fendel, Menlo systems GmbH, Martinsried, Germany
  • Pascal Tournois, Fastlite, Palaiseau, France
  • Fernando Stefani, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Jacob Hoogenboom, University of Delft, the Netherlands
  • Alain Dereux & Gerard Colas de Francs, Univ. Bourgogne, France
  • Markus Sauer, University of Tubbingen, Germany
  • Xavier Borrisé, CIN2, Barcelona, Spain
  • Jordi Hernando, Univ. Autònoma Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
  • Kobus Kuipers, AMOLF, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Klaus Müllen, Max Planck Inst. Polymer research, Mainz, Germany
  • Herman Gaub, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich, Germany
  • Herman Offerhaus, Jennifer Herek, MESA+, University of Twente, Netherlands
  • Klaus Boller, MESA+, University of Twente, Netherlands
  • Reuven Gordon, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

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Molecular Nanophotonics

Prof. Dr. Niek van Hulst

    Former Group Members
  • Nicolò Accanto, PhD student
  • Daan Brinks, PhD student
  • Gaëtan Calbris, Research fellow
  • Marta Castro-Lopez, PhD student
  • Jean-Christophe Gomez, PhD student
  • Pablo de Roque Fernández, PhD student
  • Alberto G. Curto, PhD student
  • Dominique Heinis, Postdoctoral researcher
  • Richard Hildner, Postdoctoral researcher
  • Jacob Hoogenboom, Postdoctoral researcher
  • James Hugall, Research fellow
  • Valeria Kleiman, Visiting professor
  • Florian Kulzer, Postdoctoral researcher
  • Martin Kuttge, Postdoctoral researcher
  • Xuan Loc Le, Postdoctoral researcher
  • Aude Lereu, Postdoctoral researcher
  • Salvatore Minissale, Postdoctoral researcher
  • Lars Neumann, PhD student
  • Jana Nieder, Postdoctoral researcher
  • Lukas Novotny, Visiting professor
  • Christine Payne, Visiting scientist
  • Lukasz Piatkowski, Postdoctoral researcher
  • Jan Renger, Research fellow
  • Gabriel Sanchez-Mosteiro, PhD student
  • Riccardo Sapienza, Research fellow
  • Anshuman Singh, PhD student
  • Fernando D. Stefani, Postdoctoral researcher
  • Tim Taminiau, PhD student
  • Pavan Kumar Venkataramu, Postdoctoral researcher
  • Emilie Wientjes, Postdoctoral researcher
  • Kathrin Winkler, Visiting scientist

Molecular Nanophotonics

Prof. Dr. Niek van Hulst

    Proceedings & Book
  • Probing the local field of nanoantennas using single particle luminescence A. L. Lereu, G. Sanchez-Mosteiro, P. Ghenuche, A. Passian, R. Quidant, M. Garcia-Parajo, N. F. van Hulst J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 100, 052038 (2008)
  • Ultrafast spectroscopy of single molecules E. van Dijk, M. te Paske, J. Hernando, J. Hoogenboom, M. Garcia-Parajo, N. F. van Hulst Springer Series in Chemical Physics:
    Ultrafast Phenomena XV:     Proc. of the 15th Int. Conf., Pacific Grove/CA, USA, July 30 - August 4, 2006
    Corkum, P.; Jonas, D.; Miller, D.; Weiner, A.M. (Eds.), Springer Verlag, Berlin
    Vol. 88, p. 231-233 (2006)
  • Coherent control of two photon fluorescence with a high-resolution spectral phase shaper S. Postma, H. L. Offerhaus, V. Subramaniam, N. F. van Hulst Springer Series in Chemical Physics:
    Ultrafast Phenomena XV:     Proc. of the 15th Int. Conf., Pacific Grove/CA, USA, July 30 - August 4
    Corkum, P.; Jonas, D.; Miller, D.; Weiner, A.M. (Eds.), Springer Verlag, Berlin
    Vol. 88, p. 208-210 (2006)
  • Engineered plasmon focusing on functional gratings B. van den Bergen, H.L Offerhaus, N.F. van Hulst Proc. SPIE Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. 5840, 359-364 (2005)
    Editorial Work
  • Introduction to the Issue on Nanophotonics M.S. Unlu, E. Ozbay, B.B. Goldberg, N.F.van Hulst IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 12, 1069-1071 (2006)
    Invited Talks
  • Addressing single molecules with nano-antennas and fs pulses N.F. van Hulst 14th International Summer School Nicolas Cabrera on "Nano Optics and Photonics”, 17-21 September 2007, Miraflores de la Sierra, Spain
  • Light in the nanoworld N. F. van Hulst 27th ICREA Colloquium, 4 September 2007, Barcelona, Spain.
  • Nano-Photonics: local field around molecules, particles, antennas N. F. van Hulst Cursos de Verano de Santander (UIMP), Fundametals of photonics: current advances, 2-7 July 2007, Santander, Spain
  • Single Molecule Detection: Ultrafast Excited State Dynamics in Coherently Coupled Complexes N.F. van Hulst 16th International Conference on Dynamical Processes in Excited States of Solids, 17-22 June 2007, Segovia, Spain
  • Addressing single molecules with nano-antennas and fs pulses N.F. van Hulst E-MRS 2007 Spring Meeting, 28 May – 1 June 2007, Strasbourg, France.
  • A λ/4 Optical Monopole Antenna for High Resolution Single Molecule Probing N.F. van Hulst SPIE Europe, MicroTechnologies for the New Millennium 2007, 2-4 May 2007, Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain
  • A Resonant λ/4 Optical Nano-Antennafor High Resolution Single Molecule Probing N.F. van Hulst NanoMeta – Europhysics conference, 8-11 January 2007, invited talk C1o.1, Seefeld, Austria
  • λ/4 Optical Nano-Antenna for High Resolution Single Molecule Probing T.H. Taminiau SPM workshop Aragon-Catalunya, 12 December 2006, invited talk, Zaragoza, Spain
  • Molecular Photonics: addressing single emitters and coupled molecular wires N.F. van Hulst 16 November 2006, Condensed Matter Physics seminar, invited colloquium, Oxford, England
  • A Resonant λ/4 Optical Nano-Antenna for High Resolution Single Molecule Probing T.H. Taminiau XXII Trobades Cientifiques de la Mediterrania, Institut Menorqui d’Estudis, 9-11 October, 2006, Mao – Menorca, Spain
  • Molecular Photonics" Nano-games with Single Molecules and Photons N.F. van Hulst XXII Trobades Cientifiques de la Mediterrània, Institut Menorquí d’Estudis, 9-11 October, 2006, Mao – Menorca, Spain
  • 9 NFO’s – from fibres, apertures, wires, to antennas and resonances N.F. van Hulst 9th International Conference on Near field optics and Related Techniques, 10 – 15 September 2006, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Single molecule pump-probe detection on coupled quantum systems N.F. van Hulst XVth International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena, topical meeting of the Optical Society of America, July 31 - August 4, 2006, Asilomar, California, USA.
  • NanoPhotonics: where nanometers and femtoseconds meet N.F. van Hulst 7 july 2007, ICN – Institut Catalana de Nanotecnologia, Univ. Autonoma de Barcelona, invited colloquium, Barcelona, Spain
  • Single molecule and near field optics N.F. van Hulst Conference on Optically Addressing of Molecules at Surfaces (OAMS-06), 24-28 May 2006, Platja d'Aro, Spain.
  • Probing the local field of a resonant optical nano antenna by single molecule detection T. Taminiau EOS Topical meeting on Molecular Plasmonic Devices, 27-29 April 2006, Engelberg, Switzerland.
  • Surface Surface-plasmon plasmon-mediated single single-molecule fluorescence through a thin metallic film F. Stefani EOS Topical meeting on Molecular Plasmonic Devices, 27-29 April 2006, Engelberg, Switzerland.
  • Developments in Molecular NanoPhotonics N.F. van Hulst Tulip Summer School, on Modern Developments in Spectroscopy, European Science Foundation, 26-29 April 2006, Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
  • Single molecule pump-probe detection on coupled quantum systems N.F. van Hulst April 2-7, 2006, XXIst IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry, Kyoto, Japan.
  • Molecular Photonics: nano-games with single molecules and photons N.F. van Hulst 24 Feb 2006, ICIQ Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia, Invited Colloquium, Tarragona, Spain.
  • Nanophotonics: where nanometers and femtoseconds meet N.F. van Hulst 20 Jan 2006, Invited colloquium, University of Zaragoza, Spain.
  • Ultrafast pump-probe detection of single molecular complexes N.F. van Hulst 6 Dec 2005, Invited colloquium. ISAS - Institute for Surface Analysis and Spectroscopy, Dortmund, Germany
  • NanoPhotonics: ultrafast on the nanometer scale N.F. van Hulst 25 nov. 2005, invited presentation, Workshop on optical methods and surfaces analysis. Mediterranean optical network (ROM), 24-25 nov 2005. University of Barcelona, Spain.
  • A local view on single and coupled molecules N.F. van Hulst 13 june 2005, CLEO-EQEC 2005, European Quantum Electronics Conference, Symposium on NanoPhotonics, Invited Plenary talk, München, Germany.
  • Aperture or Apertureless ? Tip on Aperture ! N.F. van Hulst 9 june 2005, ICONIC2005, 2nd International Conference on Near Field Characterization and Imaging, Invited Plenary talk, Barcelona, Spain
  • Advances in NanoPhotonics: ultrafast and ultrasensitive N.F. van Hulst 23 may 2005, CLEO/QELS-2005, International Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics: NanoPhotonics, Invited tutorial talk, Baltimore, USA.
  • Nanophotonics: where nanometers and femtoseconds meet N.F. van Hulst 10 may 2005, International SPIE conference: Microtechnologies for the new millennium 2005: symposium on Photonics Materials, Devices and Applications, Invited keynote presentation, Sevilla, Spain.
  • Biomolecular Imaging, Photonics and Electronics N.F. van Hulst 12 apr 2007, Institute of Physics 2005: a century after Einstein (World Year of Physics conference), Invited section talk, Warwick, England, United Kingdom.
  • Molecular Photonics: nano-games with single molecules and photons N.F. van Hulst 16 mar 2005, Invited SCAPA Lecture, School of Physics & Astronomy, Southampton, England, United Kingdom.
  • NanoPhotonics: Cross-roads between nanometers and femtoseconds N.F. van Hulst 1 feb 2005, Physics Society lecture (Natuurkundig Gezelschap Utrecht), Utrecht, Netherlands.
  • Single Molecules : Spies in the nanoworld, Entries towards Molecular Photonics N.F. van Hulst 18 Jan 2005, Physik Colloquium, Institut für Angewandte Photophysik, TUDresden, Dresden, Germany.
    Talks
  • Optical Antennas: Collecting Light and Controlling emission T.H. Taminiau SPP3 3rd Int. Conference on surface Plasmon Photonics, June 17-22 2007, presentation, Dijon, France
  • Single Molecule Emission Control by Coupling to Photonic Cavities Jacob P. Hoogenboom SPP3 3rd Int. Conference on surface Plasmon Photonics, June 17-22 2007, Dijon, France
  • Advanced Nanooptical Antennas for Scanning Probe Nanotechnology N.F. van Hulst ASPRINT – NoE Advanced Scanning Probes Research concluding meeting, 14-15 May 2007, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
  • Resonant nano-optical antennas for high resolution single molecule probing A.L. Lereu 10th Annual Linz Winter Workshop: Advances in single-molecule research for biology and nanoscience, February 2-5, 2007, Linz, Austria.
  • Optical antennas and near field A. L. Lereu Colloquium presented at the Oak Ridge National laboratory, January 18, 2007, Oak Ridge Tennessee, USA
  • Single Molecule Photonics: Ultrafast dynamics in coherently coupled complexes Niek van Hulst NanoMeta – Europhysics conference, 8-11 January 2007, contributed talk Wed1o.4, Seefeld, Austria
  • Local field at single metallic dimers probed by single molecule detection Aude Lereu ASPRINT – NoE Advanced Scanning Probes Research meeting, 27-28 Nov 2006, Dublin, Ireland
  • Single emitter decay rate probes field enhancement and mode density in plasmo-nano structures and antennas N.F. van Hulst 15 November 2006, Plasmo-Nano-Devices, 6th Research workshop and Network Council Meeting, London, England.
  • Plasmonic Marangoni manipulations at the microscale A. L. Lereu European Optical Society Annual Meeting (TOM 3: Nanophotonics, Metamaterials and Optical Microcavities), October 16-19, 2006, Paris, France
  • Local field at single metallic dimers probed by single molecule detection A.L. Lereu 9th International Conference on Near field optics and Related Techniques, 10 – 15 September 2006, contributed talk, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Single molecule fluorescence probes local density of states ( LDOS ) around photonic nanostructures G. Colas de Francs, G. Sanchez-Mosteiro et al. EOS Topical Meeting on Molecular Plasmonic Devices, 27 - 29 April 2006, Engelberg, Switzerland.
  • Surface plasmon assisted thermal coupling coupling A.L. Lereu et al. EOS Topical Meeting on Molecular Plasmonic Devices, 27 - 29 April 2006, Engelberg, Switzerland.
  • Single molecule fluorescence probes local field and density of states around nanostructures N.F. van Hulst 24 oct 2005, ASPRINT, Advanced Scanning Probes In NanoTechnolgy, EU midterm meeting, presentation, Dijon, France.
  • Focussing Plasmons by curved gratings N.F. van Hulst 11 may 2005, International SPIE conference: Microtechnologies for the new millennium 2005: symposium on Photonics Materials, Devices and Applications, presentation, Sevilla, Spain.
  • Nano-optical antenna's as advanced scanning optical probes N.F. van Hulst 22 apr 2005, ASPRINT, Advanced Scanning Probes In NanoTechnolgy, EU biannual program meeting, Plenary talk, Munster, Germany
    PhD Theses
  • Coherent control of nonlinear optical processes in individual nanoparticles N. Accanto
  • Optical antennas control light emission A. González Curto
  • Nanoscale coherent control: Ultrafast dynamics of single molecules, individual light harvesting complexes and discrete nanoantennas at room temperature D. Brinks
  • Control of optical fields and sengle photon emitters by advanced nanoantenna structures L. Neumann
  • Optical antennas for single emitters T. H. Taminiau

Molecular Nanophotonics

Prof. Dr. Niek van Hulst