Harvesting, Generating, and Manipulating Light at the Nanoscale

The fields of plasmonics and nanophotonics encompass the science and engineering of optical interactions with nanostructures. Prospects of enhanced light harvesting, subwavelength confinement and strong local electromagnetic fields near nanoscale objects have motivated extensive investigation of nanooptical phenomena. As a result of these investigations, applications of plasmonics and nanophotonics have reached across various disciplines, ranging from chemistry to material science, biology, medicine, information, energy, and communications. Examples of topics that have recently emerged and will be extensively discussed in this year's meeting include: quantum mechanical effects, plasmon-induced hot carrier generation, plasmon-enabled chemistry and biotechnology, dielectric nanophotonics, novel sustainable materials, and metasurfaces.

Inspired by the huge success of the previous six Gordon Research Conferences on Plasmonics in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016, the 2018 GRC on Plasmonics and Nanophotonics will bring together some of the most active world-renowned senior and junior scientists in the field to deliver exciting, cutting-edge, and thought-provoking invited lectures and to actively engage in extensive scientific discussions and interaction with researchers, students, and postdoctoral fellow participants. After each lecture, there will be ample time for lively discussion and question-and-answer sessions among invited speakers, discussion leaders, and all participants. There will be unstructured time in the afternoons where the free flow of ideas and discussion among all participants will be highly encouraged, and there will also be stimulating poster sessions by participants, which is one of the highlights of Gordon Research Conferences. In addition to participating in the GRC week, students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior scientists are also encouraged to attend the associated Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Saturday (July 8) and Sunday (July 9) prior to the start of the GRC. Please note that a separate application is needed for the associated GRS.