The Research Council of Finland has awarded funding for Academy Research Fellows and Academy Projects in Natural Sciences and Engineering in June 2024. PREIN partner organizations received funding for six individual applicants and for two joint projects. In the joint projects the partners are Aalto and VTT and University of Eastern Finland and VTT.
In total, the Research Council of Finland’s Scientific Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering selected 53 researchers to receive Academy Research Fellowship funding and 74 projects to receive Academy Project Funding. In the Academy Research Fellowships, the success rate for applicants stood at roughly 14%, while in Academy Projects, the success rate was about 15%.
The following PREIN related Academy Fellows and Projects were funded.
New Academy Research Fellows
Tero-Petri Ruoko/ Tampere University: Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence under Confinement in a Supramolecular Cage
Current state-of-the-art light-emitting molecules are based on thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) dyes that have a structurally crowded and sterically hindered donor–acceptor architecture. TADF dyes are expensive, structurally complex, prone to aggregation-induced emission quenching, and the stability of especially blue emitters remains low. FLUOROCAGE aims to solve these issues and take a step towards next-generation light-emitting devices by confining the donor and acceptor building blocks of TADF dyes as heterodimers inside a water-soluble supramolecular cage, resulting in a highly emissive platform with modular tunability. The water-solubility of the supramolecular confined emitters reduces the environmental impact of device fabrication. The project aims to decouple TADF emission from the complex structural architecture, leading to a paradigm shift in the design of stable organic emitters.
Zhongpeng Lyu/Aalto: MXene-TTFs nanocomposite for tuneable photonics
The power to manipulate light has always fascinated people and led to many applications in our daily lives. Finding advanced optically active materials is the key to realizing and enhancing this power. This project will develop a new optically active material at Aalto University, utilizing the combination of the state-of-the-art 2-dimensional nanomaterial and molecular material, which has not been explored so far. The new material will combine the key merits of the existing ones, and also enable scalable and low-cost fabrication without using toxic and rare elements. The project can result in immediate applications e.g. active IR camouflage, dynamic thermal regulation for buildings or individuals, as well as existing devices that need high-performance optically active materials. It will also enable many futurist applications such as photonics memory, optical computing, nonlinear optical devices, structural coloration, and active metasurfaces.
Vladimir Kornienko/ Aalto: Interaction between Light and Sound at Structured Piezoelectric Interfaces for Gigahertz Endoscopy and Quantum Light Engineering (LSI-SPI)
We often meet sound apart from the hearing itself: bats locating the objects; ultrasonic investigation in medicine; monitoring bridges and buildings. We will study a new mechanism for light-to-sound conversion in piezoelectrics. The novel idea is in combining the nanostructures acting as acoustic sources, with a special type of optical excitation. This enables complex acoustic beams with unusual properties such as all-optical steering. We will probe the quantum behavior of acoustic waves at room temperatures. We will fabricate the converters for gigahertz acoustic endoscopy for medical diagnostics and research. Better understanding of mechanisms for generating sound at the microscale will benefit the basic science and create applications in biomedical imaging and material science. Research will be conducted at Aalto University with its high-quality nanofabrication facilities and optical laboratories. Our project includes international collaboration and the training of new researchers.
New Academy Projects
Ivan Radevici/ Aalto and George Thomas/ VTT: Cryogenic Thermophotonics (CryOpto)
LEDs are widely recognized as modern and efficient light sources. However, their potential applications extend far beyond illumination. Technically, an LED is a thermodynamic machine capable of converting energy from one form to another, such as heat into light. The phenomenon of cooling an LED while it emits light, known as electroluminescent cooling (ELC), has been understood for decades, but practical observations have only been made recently. Due to this progress, interest in ELC is growing, though current research mainly focuses on temperatures around room temperature (RT) or higher. cryOPTO aims to explore the limits of ELC at cryogenic temperatures and to provide insights into thermophotonic phenomena at very low temperatures. Success in this project will pave the way for developing new all-solid-state cooling and communication technologies for quantum applications.
Matthieu Roussey/ University of Eastern Finland and Jussi Hiltunen/ VTT: Digital single molecule detection with plasmonic-enhanced up-conversion (DISIMO)
The project DISIMO deals with the digital detection of molecules using photonic detection. Array of metallic pads are functionalized with receptor probes and up-conversion fluorescence is applied in the monitoring of molecule binding kinetics. Only one molecule-conjugate can be trapped on one pad enabling digital detection principle. Each pad of the platform array is nano-structured for a higher and localized excitation of the up-conversion centers. A dielectric mirror is enabling a directional emission of the up-converted signal for a higher detection. The technology can be used in diagnostics of communicable and non-communicable diseases, therapeutics and other domains, such as food quality and environmental monitoring.
Laeticia Petit/ Tampere University: Light emitting 3D printed bioactive scaffold embedded in hydrogel for maxillofacial bone healing with limited risk of infection
Despite the scientific progress in developing biomaterials, there is still a need for biomaterials able to favor osteogenesis and angiogenesis while preventing implant failure arising from infections. Despite the scientific progress in developing biomaterials, there is still a need for biomaterials able to favor osteogenesis and angiogenesis while preventing implant failure arising from infections. We propose to develop novel composites, composed of a glass host, hydrogel, crystals with blue upconversion (UC) using 800nm and particles with green persistent luminescence (PeL). The UC is used to charge the PeL particles. The green afterglow obtained using the tissue-penetrating near-IR light will activate, in-situ, photoswitchable molecule loaded in the composite leading to the release of an antimicrobial agent.
Tapio Niemi/ Tampere University: Integrated optical vortex comb
Polarization is a fundamental property of light, corresponding to the spin angular momentum of photons in the quantum picture. Additionally, photons can carry orbital angular momentum (OAM). The number of possible OAM states of light is in theory infinite, allowing one to encode substantial amounts of information in light. In addition to applications in communication and information technologies, OAM-carrying light is intriguing from the fundamental point of view. Niemi and his team will develop a novel integrated photonic system for generating and detecting laser light beams that can carry hundreds or even thousands of OAM modes. Using such extraordinary light, they will also introduce a new method for the chemical analysis of gases and liquids.
Zhipei Sun/Aalto: Atomic-scale nonlinear optical interferometers
Our project is anticipated to revolutionize optical technology by developing atomic-scale nonlinear optical interferometers using two-dimensional van der Waals superlattices. These thin materials, when electronically coupled, manipulate coherent nonlinear optics to create distinct interference patterns, differing significantly from traditional optical interferometry methods. Our approach not only offers new functions and enhanced performance but also allows us to custom-design these interferometers for specific applications, such as advanced microscopy and novel sensing and probe technologies. This project will deepen our understanding of atomic-scale interactions, potentially leading to breakthroughs in precision technology.
Anton Kuzyk/ Aalto: DNA-origami-based metal nanoparticles with programmable morphologies and tailored optical responses (DMORPH).
Metal nanoparticles hold great promise for practical applications in various field. In many cases, utility of metal nanoparticles for specific application critically depends on the particles’ geometrical parameters and there is a great need for technologies which allow reliable and scalable synthesis of nanoparticles with programmable shapes. In this project we will develop novel methods that allow to transfer structural programmability, complexity and precision offered by molecular self-assembly, especially DNA origami technique, into the realm of metal nanoparticles synthesis. This will allow us to create metal nanostructures of almost any desirable shapes and explore utility of such particles in the fields of photothermal therapy, chiral plasmonics and nanophotonics. Results of this proposal will have significant impact in the fields of colloidal synthesis, plasmonics and nanophotonics and will open new routes towards practical applications of metal nanoparticles.