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van Hulst, Niek F.
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ICREA Research Professor at ICFO (Institut de Ciències Fotòniques). Technology & Engineering
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Niek F. van Hulst (Dutch, 1957) obtained his PhD (1986) in Molecular and Laser-Physics at the University of Nijmegen (the Netherlands). After research in non-linear optics, organic materials and integrated optics, in 1990, he became an Assistant Professor at the University of Twente, and started research in near-field optical & atomic force microscopy, non-linear optics, hyper Raleigh scattering. Since 1997 full Professor in Applied Optics, at MESA+ Institute for NanoTechnology (Enschede, the Netherlands), with focus on single molecule detection, nanophotonics, photonic structures, scanning probe technology, applications in molecular biology and chemistry. Since 2005 ICREA Research Professor at ICFO – the Institute of Photonic Sciences – Barcelona, as a senior group leader in NanoPhotonics. Since 2007 he is coordinator of the Spanish CONSOLIDER program NanoLight.es. Recipient 2009 ERC Advanced Investigator Grant. City of Barcelona Prize 2010 for Scientific Investigation. Fellow OSA.
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Research Interests
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My current interest is to control light interaction at the nanometer scale. To this end we use individual molecules and quantum dots as nano-sources/detectors. These single quantum systems are ideal local field probes of the local mode density in photonic nanostructures, showing specific lifetime, spectrum, polarisation and direction of photon emission. For strong nanoscale optical fields we fabricate optical nano-antennas, tuned in resonance with the emitters. On the fs-scale we control the excitation by pulse shaping of broad band lasers.
Research topics: Emission control, nano-focusing and nanoscale imaging by nano-antenna probes, scanned in controlled proximity to single photon emitters. Coherent control of molecular dynamics and nanoscale antenna fields by phase controlled excitation with few-fs pulses. Persistent coherences in light-harvesting antenna complexes.
I like to touch ground in Massis del Garraf; strolling around the coast, with high view over the Mediterranean.
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KeyWords
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NanoPhotonics, single molecules, nanoantennas, molecular photonics, plasmonics, pulse shaping
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