11-06/07 :: June/July 2011

nanotimes News in Brief

The Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network (NanoKTN), one of the UK’s primary knowledge-based networks for Micro and Nano- technologies, is pleased to announce a partnership with ANSIN in launching its second BlueSkyNano awards scheme.

ANSIN is an advanced materials research and deve- lopment centre set up as a collaboration between Queen’s University Belfast and Seagate Technology based in Northern Ireland who manufacture 2 milli- on read-write heads per day and provided the £9M starting resource.

BlueSkyNano was established by the NanoKTN in 2010 to fund feasibility studies aimed at new product development or product enhancement, and the awards aim to encourage interaction between industry and academia. Focused primarily on inno- vation in nanomaterials, it covers application areas in ICT, sensors, environment and energy, medicine and high value manufacturing, and aims to establish a recognisable brand for UK industry.

The call for applications is now open and will close on the August 31, 2011. To apply, download and complete the application form at:

http://www.qub.ac.uk/mp/con/ansin/blueskynano

Lambert K. van Vugt, Brian Piccione, Chang-Hee Cho, Pavan Nukala, and Ritesh Agarwal: One-dimensional polaritons with size-tunable and enhanced coupling strengths in semiconductor nanowires, In: PNAS, Vol. 108(2011), No. 25, June 21, 2011, Pages 10050-10055, DOI:10.1073/pnas.1102212108: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1102212108

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The Phantoms Foundation launches a catalogue of nano companies in Spain. The catalogue gives a global outlook of Spanish nano market and has pro- ved that Spain is a competitive player in this field. Catalogue available here:

http://www.phantomsnet.net/Resources/Catalogue_ Companies.pdf

Researchers at Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, USA, report in PNAS on experiments represent systematic investigations on light-matter coupling in one-dimensional optical nanocavities, demons- trating the ability to engineer light-matter coupling strengths at the nanoscale, even in non-quantum- confined systems, to values much higher than in bulk. They report on size-tunable, exceptionally high exciton-polariton coupling strengths characte- rized by a vacuum Rabi splitting of up to 200 meV as well as a reduction in group velocity, in surface- passivated, self-assembled semiconductor nanowire cavities. © PNAS