Prof. Dr. Javier AIZPURUA

Javier Aizpurua, Professor at the Center for Materials Physics of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in Donostia-San Sebastián, the Basque Country, is visiting the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy as ASP Visiting Professor in November 2014. During his stay he will give four lectures:

Prof. Javier Aizpurua is a Research Professor at the Center for Materials Physics of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in Donostia-San Sebastián, the Basque Country, where he has been developing his research activity on "Nanophotonics" since 2008. The "Theory of Nanophotonics" group that he leads in San Sebastián is devoted to the research of the optical response of nanoscale systems in a variety of spectroscopy and microscopy configurations. Among others, Aizpurua has studied the excitation of surface plasmons in metals in the context of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), light emission in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM), antenna effects in Surface-Enhanced InfraRed Absorption (SEIRA), near-field mapping in scattering-type Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscopy (s-SNOM) or forces in the interaction of fast electrons and nanostructures in Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM).
In the last years, Aizpurua has combined the treatment of the optical response based on classical Electrodynamics with full quantum-mechanical approaches based on Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TDDFT), setting a conceptual framework to understand many optoelectronic processes at the atomic scale. Novel aspects of nanooptics such as Quantum effects in Plasmonics, nonlinear optical response, nonlocalities, or coupling with single emitters are studied by his group, in collaboration with some of the best theoretical and experimental groups all over the world.
After his PhD at the University of the Basque Country, Javier Aizpurua developed two postdoctoral positions, one at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, and another one at the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, USA, where he developed key concepts on Plasmonics and Optical Nanoantennas. In 2004 he joined the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) as a Fellow researcher where he established the group of "Theory of Nanophotonics". In 2008 he became a senior researcher of CSIC where he continues leading his group until nowadays.
Aizpurua has co-authored more than 150 papers and book chapters on Plasmonics and Nanophotonics, he has given more than 100 lectures and seminars in different University Departments and Technology Centers. He is routinely invited to talk about his research in the most prestigious conferences and workshops of Nanophotonics, and he has organized many singular events on the topic. He currently collaborates with many leading international groups in Nanophotonics, such as those in Cambridge and Southampton (UK), Orsay (France), Heidelberg (Germany), Washignton DC and Houston (USA), or Beijing and Hefei (China), among others. 

Website of Aizpurua's groupExternal link 

This set of lectures will analyse very basic aspects of the optical response of metallic nanostructures therefore no special background is needed to follow the course, except for a very basic knowledge on Electrodynamics. The lecture notes are available by a click on title. The password is available on request at dorit.schmidt@uni-jena.de

Lecture 1: Basics of the optical response in metals and metallic surfaces

Time: November 7, 2014, 14:00
Place: Fraunhofer IOF, Carl-Zeiss-Saal, Albert-Einstein-Str. 7, 07745 Jena

The very basic concepts that allow to understand the optical response of metals, and how the boundary conditions of nanostructures sustain surface modes will be reviewed.

Lecture 2: Basics of Nanoplasmonics

Time: November 13, 2014, 15:00
Place: IPHT seminar room, Albert-Einstein-Straße 9, 07745 Jena

Different concepts of localised surface plasmons will be reviewed in canonical structures commonly used in nanoplasmonics: nanoparticles, nanorods, nanoshells, etc,.... Effects of retardation, higher-order modes, and coupling will be introduced.

Lecture 3: Plasmons in Field-enhanced Spectroscopy and Microscopy

Time: November 19, 2014, 15:00
Place: IPHT seminar room, Albert-Einstein-Straße 9, 07745 Jena

The use of plasmon excitations has improved dramatically the performance of field-enhanced spectroscopies and microscopies. SERS, SEIRA and FES will be described in the context of plasmonics.

Lecture 4: Quantum Effects in Plasmonics

Time: November 26, 2014, 13:30 
Place: Lecture hall, Abbe Zentrum Beutenberg, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 1, 07745 Jena  

General lecture in the School of METAMORPHOSE 

Classical descriptions of the optical response within Electrodynamics sometimes fail to address fine atomic-scale effects in plasmonics. An introduction to the quantum mechanical calculation of the optical response of plasmonic particles will be given in this lecture.