Pioneers of plasmonics and nanophotonics for photovoltaics to be honored

Aug. 8, 2014

Harry Atwater at the California Institue of Technology and Albert Polman at FOM Institute AMOLF in The Netherlands will receive the Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics for their achievements in plasmonics and novel nanophotonic routes to ultrahigh-efficiency solar energy conversion. The award, accompanied by $5,000, will be presented on September 1 at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam during the Julius Springer Forum on Applied Physics 2014.

The two professors have pioneered the use of metallic nanostructures that support surface plasmons, which has led to the use of optical nanostructures in photovoltaics. Atwater and Polman have demonstrated how light can be more efficiently absorbed and trapped in solar cells by integrating nanostructures in the solar cell, which in turn has enable the fabrication of ultrathin solar cells that can be made at reduced costs, as well as new solar cell architectures with increased efficiency. The two have been collaborators for over 20 years, developing new measurement instruments and fabrication technology that has led to startup companies.

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Harry Atwater, Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science at Caltech, is focuses on plasmonics and optical metamaterials as well as photovoltaics and solar energy conversion. Atwater gave the field of plasmonics it name in 2001. He currently serves as Director of the DOE Energy Frontier Research Center on Light-Matter Interactions in Solar Energy Conversion, and is also Director of the Resnick Institute for Science, Energy and Sustainability at Caltech. He is co-founder and chief technical advisor for startup Alta Devices (Santa Clara, CA).

Albert Polman is the scientific group leader at the FOM Institute AMOLF in Amsterdam, where he heads the program Light management in new photovoltaic materials. He is professor of Photonic Materials for Photovoltaics at the University of Amsterdam. Polman's research focuses on nanophotonics, with special emphasis on light management in solar cells and optical metamaterials. Polman is co-founder and technical advisor for Delmic (Delft, The Netherlands), a startup company that develops a cathodoluminescence imaging spectroscopy instrument developed in Polman’s group.

The Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics recognizes researchers who have made an outstanding and innovative contribution to the fields of applied physics. It has been awarded annually since 1998 by the Editors-in-Chief of the Springer journals Applied Physics A – Materials Science & Processing and Applied Physics B – Lasers and Optics.

Source: Springer

About the Author

Conard Holton | Editor at Large

Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.