Lecturer: Tenured Scientist Agustín Mihi, Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Spain

Title: Scalable Photonic Architectures by Nanoimprinting Unconventional Materials

Abstract:

Photonic and plasmonic architectures can concentrate the electric field through resonances, increase the light optical path by strong diffraction and exhibit many other interesting optical phenomena that cannot be achieved with traditional lenses and mirrors. The use of these structures within actual devices will be most beneficial for enhanced light absorption solar cells, photodetectors and improved new sensors and light emitters. However, emerging optoelectronic devices rely on large area and low-cost fabrication routes to cut manufacturing expenses and increase the production throughput. If the exciting properties exhibited photonic structures are to be implemented in these devices, then they too have to be processed in a similar fashion as the devices they intend to improve.
In this presentation, I will illustrate how the technique of soft nanoimprinting lithography provides an exciting opportunity for the fabrication of nanostructures in a scalable, fast and inexpensive way. In our group, we use pre-patterned soft elastomeric stamps to induce a nanostructure in a variety materials from conductive polymers to cellulose1. We also use our patterned stamps to induce the long range ordering of metal colloids2 and perovskite nanocrystals3 in what is known as template-induced self-assembly. In all cases, the resulting photonic architectures can exhibit a resolution below 100 nm while covering an area of 1 cm2. This fabrication route allows us to combine the photonic properties of the pattern with those of the original material resulting in a new generation of inexpensive photonic components such as biodegradable photonic films, highly efficient SERS platforms for sensing, chiral metamaterials,4 improved efficiency solar cells and more.

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