Programmable light-matter interactions: DNA as a tool for nanophotonics - Livestream

Light can be created, scattered, and confined by nanoparticles whose dimensions are smaller than the wavelength of light. A nanoparticle's interaction with light is often strongly tuned by its size and shape, providing an exciting opportunity to control the fate of photons with extraordinary precision. However, harnessing this potential is especially challenging because it is extremely difficult to fabricate materials and devices which are precise down to the nanometer scale. To overcome these challenges, we are studying a class of atomically precise nanoparticles, called clusters, whose sizes and shapes are programmed by DNA scaffolds. I will introduce these DNA-stabilized silver clusters, describe how we are probing their fundamental properties, and present our framework for discovering these clusters by harnessing tools from data mining and machine learning. These promising fluorescent clusters could form the basis of a new set of nanophotonic tools for bioimaging and biosensing.

Speaker: Dr. Stacy Copp, UC Irvine

Zoom link.