Resonant optical antennas

We have fabricated nanometer-scate gold dipole antennas designed to be resonant at optical frequencies. On resonance, strong field enhancement in the antenna feed gap leads to white-light supercontinuum generation. The antenna length at resonance is considerably shorter than one-half the wavelength of the incident light. This is in contradiction to classical antenna theory but in qualitative accordance with computer simulations that take into account the finite metallic conductivity at optical frequencies. Because optical. antennas link propagating radiation and confined/enhanced optical fields, they should find applications in optical characterization, manipulation of nanostructures, and optical information processing

Quantum dots coordinated with conjugated organic ligands: new nanomaterials with novel photophysics

CdSe quantum dots functionalized with oligo-(phenylene vinylene) (OPV) ligands (CdSe-OPV nanostructures) represent a new class of composite nanomaterials with significantly modified photophysics relative to bulk blends or isolated components. Single-molecule spectroscopy on these species have revealed novel photophysics such as enhanced energy transfer, spectral stability, and strongly modified excited state lifetimes and blinking statistics. Here, we review the role of ligands in quantum dot applications and summarize some of our recent efforts probing energy and charge transfer in hybrid CdSe-OPV composite nanostructures