Atwater and Polman Receive the Julius Springer Prize

Harry Atwater and Albert Polman received the annual Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics; they were honored for their achievements in plasmonics and nanophotonics.

Atwater and Polman have pioneered the use of metallic nanostructures that support optical resonances called surface plasmons, to control light at the nanoscale. They have demonstrated how light can be more efficiently absorbed and trapped in solar cells by integrating nanostructures in the solar cell, enabling the fabrication of ultrathin solar cells.

Harry Atwater is the Applied Physics and Materials Science professor at the California Institute of Technology and named the plasmonics field in 2001. He is the director of the DOE Energy Frontier Research Center on Light-Matter Interactions in Solar Energy Conversion, the Resnick Institute for Science, Energy and Sustainability at Caltech and is the co-founder and chief technical advisor for Alta Devices.

Albert Polman is the Photonic Materials for Photovoltaics professor at the University of Amsterdam and is the co-founder and technical advisor for Delmic. Polman's research focuses on nanophotonics, with special emphasis on light management in solar cells and optical metamaterials.

The award, alongside $5,000, will be presented to Atwater and Polman in Amsterdam, during the "Julius Springer Forum on Applied Physics" held in September 2014.

For more information, visit www.springer.com, www.amolf.nl and www.caltech.edu.