Manipulating Light at the Nanoscale
This grant explores nanoscale systems to manipulate light, particularly "twisted light," using novel materials for applications like secure communication and high-resolution imaging.
This grant is no longer accepting proposals
NRC Research Associateship Programs has archived this opportunity.
Funder: NRC Research Associateship Programs
Due Dates: May 1, 2025
Funding Amounts: $99,200 stipend plus $3,000 travel allowance; fellowship duration typically 2-3 years
Summary: Supports postdoctoral research on emergent nanophotonic systems manipulating light at sub-wavelength scales, focusing on twisted light and novel light-matter interactions for applications like secure communications and high-resolution imaging.
Key Information: Open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents; requires Ph.D. earned within last 5 years; research conducted at Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC.
Description
This fellowship opportunity supports research on emergent nanophotonic systems that manipulate light at sub-wavelength scales to control and generate light with orbital angular momentum, commonly known as twisted light. The program aims to combine plasmonic and surface phonon polariton materials with anisotropic nanostructures to activate novel light-matter interactions. This research has broad potential applications including secure communications, high-resolution imaging, and chemical sensing.
The research group focuses on designing, fabricating, characterizing, and modeling nanophotonic systems spanning visible to far-infrared spectral regimes, including solar cells and infrared detectors and emitters. Experimentalists will engage in fabrication techniques such as e-beam lithography, photolithography, 3D nanolithography (Nanoscribe), reactive ion etching, atomic layer deposition, e-beam evaporation, and sputtering. Characterization methods include atomic force microscopy, optical reflection/transmission/absorption measurements, ellipsometry, photoluminescence, Raman spectroscopy, and scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy.
This fellowship provides a robust, scalable, and high-bandwidth toolbox to advance the fields of nanophotonics and metamaterials by leveraging twisted light to introduce novel functionalities in light-matter interactions.
