Metallic nanoparticles, used since antiquity to impart intense and vibrant color into materials, have more recently become a central tool in the nanoscale manipulation of light. This interest has led to a virtual explosion of new types of metal-based nanoparticles and nanostructures of various shapes and compositions, and has given rise to new strategies to harvest, control, and manipulate light based on these structures and their properties. By assembling metallic nanoparticles into useful building blocks, a striking parallel between the plasmons of these structures and wave functions of simple quantum systems is universally observed. Clusters of metallic nanoparticles behave like coupled oscillators or antennas, introducing effects characteristic of systems as diverse as radio frequency transmitters and coupled pendulums into light-driven nanoscale structures. Their unique light-controlling properties can be put to use in a multitude of ways: for detecting single molecules and following chemical reactions, for generation of hot electrons for color-specific photodetection and photocatalysis, and most recently, for high-efficiency solar steam generation poised to tackle our planet’s energy and sustainability challenges.

Naomi Halas,美国科学院院士、工程院院士、艺术与科学院院士，现为美国Rice大学量子研究中心主任; Rice大学电子电气工程学院Stanley C. Moore教授，美国化学学会、物理学会、光学学会、光学工程学会、电子电气工程学会会士，纳米快报副主编，300多次邀请报告，参与组织国际学术会议50多次；2010年美国德州科学家之星奖；美国宾夕法尼亚大学NBIC杰出研究奖；美国DoD科学与工程研究会士；Albert M. Cruickshank 奖, 美国 Gordon Research Conferences主席; 美国宾夕法尼亚州立大学R.E. Tressler Award奖；2006年Esquire Magazine杂志明星科学家。发表纳米光子学、表面等离激元学论文500余篇，引用30000余次，现为北京大学朱星——方哲宇近场光学课题组访问教授。