National Institute for Optics and Photonics

Abstract

We propose to establish the National Institute for Optics and Photonics. This National Institute will create an environment for world-class basic research for all its constituent partners. It will establish new and augment existing successful collaborative research programs among these partners; and it will provide the platform from which research advances gained within this institute will be translated into tangible benefits, both economic and educational, for Brazilian society. The institute will advance basic research, promote technological innovation, and inform public education at all levels on a national scale. It will accomplish these goals by building on the Center for Research in Optics and Photonics (CEPOF) established by FAPESP, the State of São Paulo funding agency for scientific research, at the University of São Paulo, Institute of Physics, São Carlos (USP /IFSC) in the year 2000. Many of the partner research teams have already demonstrated successful accomplishments on past projects under the aegis of CEPOF, and this experience lends strong support and credibility to the present proposal. In addition to building on past accomplishments in atomic physics and biophotonics we propose to establish a new optics thrust in the rapidly developing field of plasmonics. The possibility to establish a National Institute for Optics and Photonics creates a unique opportunity to develop this area with the collaboration of the world's leading authorities in this field. The research component of the institute will be supported on three major pillars: 1) optics in atomic physics, with primary emphasis on the dynamical properties of ultra cold quantum fluids; 2) plasmonics, the study of electromagnetic energy localized at the surface and concentrated within metallo-dielectric nanostructures far below the diffraction Iimit, together with the development of metamaterials exhibiting novel optical properties not found in naturally occurring substances; 3) biophotonics, developing optics-based techniques to combine basic research with new tools for disease treatment and diagnosis. A matrix of interrelated research projects, described in detail in the body of the proposal, animates each of these principal themes. These projects have been selected for their scientific promise and their potential to nurture excellence in a multidisciplinary environment. The proposed National Institute has been conceived and developed by the several partner institutions, each with competence in different areas of expertise, but each alert to the unique opportunities afforded by close collaboration with the others. Together 10 institutions, about 30 PhD researchers and more than 120 people including pos-docs, graduate and undergraduate students will work in a cooperative environment with common goals. (AU)