The 2013 Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics

Awarded January 9, 2013, at the 43rd Winter Colloquium on the Physics of Quantum Electronics.

Peter Nordlander, Rice University

For pioneering theoretical contributions in the field of plasmonics.

Prof. Peter Nordlander obtained his Ph.D. degree in Theoretical Physics at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1985. After postdoctoral positions at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center at Yorktown Heights (USA) and AT&T Bell Laboratories at Murray Hill (USA) and at Rutgers University, he joined the faculty at Rice University in 1989 and is currently Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Paris and at the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. His original research background is in theoretical condensed matter and mesoscopic physics, and his present research is in plasmonics and nanooptics.

He has made several pioneering theoretical contributions to the field of plasmonics. His theory of plasmon hybridization has laid the foundation for a rigorous yet intuitive understanding of how plasmons on adjacent nanostructures interact and hybridize to form collective modes. His prediction of Fano resonances in plasmonic systems, and his interpretation of such coherent phenomena in terms of interactions between sub- and superradiant plasmon modes, has stimulated intense research activity on this topic, leading to the development of ultrasensitive localized surface plasmon resonant (LSPR) sensors. He has pioneered the field of quantum plasmonics, establishing the limits of validity of classical electromagnetic descriptions of plasmonic systems. In this context he has predicted several new optical effects that are essentially quantum mechanical in nature, including the charge transfer plasmon induced by electron tunneling across nanometer scale gaps.

He is a fellow of APS, AAAS, and SPIE and is the recipient of the Charles Duncan Award (Rice highest honor for scientific achievements) and the 2013 Willis E. Lamb Award. He is an associate editor of ACS Nano.

Bio provided by Prof. Nordlander, 2012.