Basic Technology Project: NANOSCOPE
The Research Consortium
This project is conceived as a truly interdisciplinary research programme at the intersection of optical physics, nanotechnology, the mathematical theory of singularities, cutting edge nanofabrication,and cell biology.
- The project will be lead by Professor Nikolay Zheludev,
senior EPSRC Research Professor on Nanophotonics and Deputy Director
(Physics) of the Optoelectronics Research Centre, who will be the project PI
and coordinator. He will lead experimental work in Southampton on the
development and implementation of the Optical
Nanolens and various NANOSCOPE configurations.
- Dr. Mark Dennis is a Royal Society University Research
Fellow who recently moved from the School of Mathematics at the University
of Southampton to the School of Physics at the University of Bristol. He is
an international expert in light localization, interference-controlled
optical phase, and optical singularities, which are closely linked to the
physics of super-oscillation.He will lead the theoretical work on the
optimization of optical and plasmonic nanolenses, in close collaboration
with experimentalists.
- Dr. John Chad, from the School of Biological Sciences at
the University of Southampton, whose research interests are in neuronal
signalling and cell energetics, will inform the project on the needs of
biological sciences and the design of test biological experiments using the
NANOSCOPE, and will participate in the imaging experiments.
- Dr. Yifang Chen from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
will lead work on the development of fabrication techniques and fabrication
of nanolens structures.
- Professor Kishan Dholakia, from the School of Physics at
the University of St. Andrews, is the leading international authority in
optical trapping and the development of new optical techniques for cell
characterization and manipulation. He will lead the experimental work on the
use of the nanolens and nanoscale optical traps for cell “surgery” and “cell
masonry” in St.Andrews.