Dynamic organic nanooptics

The beautiful colors of stained glass arise thanks to metal nanoparticles embedded in the glass. The metallic nanostructures act as antennas for light, making them useful in many areas. Examples include solar energy conversion, biosensors and new types of flat ultrathin optics. In our research, we recently introduced organic conducting polymers as a new type of materials for such optical nanoantennas (Chen et al. Nature Nanotechnology 2020, 15, 35-40). In contrast to conventional metals like gold or silver, these organic materials can be reversibly switched between being metallic and dielectric, which enabled us to create optical nanoantennas that could be turned off and on again. Our initial system was controlled chemically and more recently we also demonstrated electrical control of conducting polymer nanoantennas (Karki et al. Advanced Materials 2022, 34, 13, 2107172). This project aims to further develop this new research field of dynamic organic nanooptics in several exciting directions. More information about our research can be found at www.mpjonsson.com.