ERC Starting Grant for Erik Garnett and Bas van de Meerakker
AMOLF group leader Dr. Erik Garnett and former FOM PhD student Bas van de Meerakker have each received a prestigious ERC Starting Grant of 1,5 million euros. The ERC Starting Grant is intended for setting up excellent research teams or further strengthening such teams. Garnett will use the grant to start a research programme into 'Photovoltaics Enabled through Nanoscience' (NanoEnabledPV). Van de Meerakker, who works as a molecular physicist at Radboud University Nijmegen, will use the ERC Starting Grant to control and investigate collisions between molecules in an even more precise manner than he has done up until now.
ERC for Erik Garnett
Garnett's research will combine a new core-shell synthesis for nanowires with structural, chemical, optical and electronic characterisation of individual nanowires. The aims of the research programme are twofold. The first aim is the optimisation of the absorption in ultrathin semiconductor layers by using plasmonic, photonic and hybrid resonances to control the flow of light at the nanoscale. The second aim is controlling the flow of photo-generated electrons with nanoscale precision by using surface dipoles instead of doping or alloys. Eventually this research will lead to highly efficient solar cells that can be produced against low costs from non-toxic materials that occur abundantly on earth.
ERC for Bas Van de Meerakker
Van de Meerkakker will use the grant to develop new equipment to better understand colliding molecules. Although molecular collisions are commonplace, for example in combustion processes but also in 'gas clouds' in space, physicists do not yet know precisely what happens during molecular collisions and what the effects of these are. Van de Meerakker has been investigating collisions between molecules for many years, first at the Fritz-Haber-Institute in Berlin and since 2011 in Nijmegen. With a molecule decelerator you can successfully control the movements of molecules. Amongst other things he will use the ERC Starting Grant to adapt the current decelerator. "Now we always allow two beams of molecules to collide and we observe the effects of this on individual molecules. Yet up until now we have only controlled one of the two beams. By adapting the experimental set-up we will be able to completely control both beams in the future."
Further information
For further information about Erik Garnett, please see the AMOLF website. On the website of the Radboud University Nijmegen you will find information about the research of Bas van de Meerakker.