Plasmonics materials have revolutionized our ability to control the flow of light through materials. By resonantly coupling light onto the surface of plasmonic nanoparticles the ability to optically sense and signal at nanometer length scales has been realized, leading to unique materials. However, for all the exciting opportunities to-date, these plasmonic materials are constrained to only a few phases of matter, either as two-dimensional surfaces or dilute liquids, thereby limiting their full possibilities. Recently, we combined the fields of plasmonics and aerosols to establish the plasmonic aerosol for the first time. The aerosols are optically homogenous, thermodynamically stable, with broad wavelength tunability. We are interested in elucidating the fundamental properties of these aerosols. Principle interests include experimentally and theoretically understanding the liquid to gas transition mechanisms, the linear and nonlinear optical response, and actively controlling the orientational or positional order parameter.  Plasmonic aerosols are anticipated to impact broad technology areas including climatology, astronomy, petroleum, vacuum microelectronics, nonlinear optics, nanojet printing, molecular diagnostics and nanomedicine fields. Candidates should send a cover letter, CV, and at least one letter of recommendation to Dr. Jake Fontana (jake.fontana@nrl.navy.mil).

Additional postdoctoral information can be found at http://hroffice.nrl.navy.mil/jobs/postdoc.htm

1.           Geldmeier, J.;  Johns, P.;  Greybush, N. J.;  Naciri, J.; Fontana, J., Plasmonic aerosols. Phys. Rev. B 2019, 99 (8), 081112.

2.           Greybush, N. J.;  Charipar, K.;  Geldmeier, J. A.;  Bauman, S. J.;  Johns, P.;  Naciri, J.;  Charipar, N.;  Park, K.;  Vaia, R. A.; Fontana, J., Dynamic Plasmonic Pixels. ACS nano 2019, 13 (4), 3875-3883.

key words

Plasmonics; nanoparticle; aerosol; climate research; photocatalyst; nonlinear optics; space optics; vacuum microelectronics; molecular sensing

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral applicants