Outline

Molecular Photonics is an emerging field of research located at a strategic crossroad where physics, chemistry, engineering and life science meet. These four closely interacting areas provide a relevant multi-disciplinary background as well as timely motivations for the development of molecular photonics at ultimate time and space scales. Applied and technological as well as exploratory and fundamental issues related to light matter interaction in organic or inorganic-organic hybrid systems at micro and nano-scale are now increasingly at the focus of research in molecular photonics. Optical telecommunication and biophotonics stand-out as the two major domains of applications to be addressed in this workshop. The aim of the workshop is therefore to provide a broad survey of recent advances in the Japanese and French scientific communities involved in molecular photonics and biophotonics at micro- and nanometric scales, with particular emphasis on the specific advantages to be gained and related original challenges associated to molecular photonics in comparison with current inorganic approaches.
    The conference will take place in the Awaji Yumebutai International Convention Center in Hyogo, Japan (in the broader Osaka area).



Main Topics

Four major domains sustain current and foreseeable driving forces in molecular photonics. These four areas will provide the backbone of the workshop.

· Chemistry as targeted and governed by continuously updated molecular engineering guidelines and the synthesis of organic systems in the broadest sense (purely organic molecules, organo-minerals, dyes and polymers, hybrid materials, single crystals and liquid crystals etc…) displaying functional photonic properties, further optimized for a broad class of phenomena pertaining to light-matter interactions: quadratic and cubic non-linear optics, one- and two photon pumped luminescence, laser effects, photoinduced transformations, photovoltaics etc... Multifunctional materials displaying multiple properties such as luminescence and nonlinear optics properties or transport and luminescence will be emphasized.

· Molecular devices and technologies open the way to promising industrial opportunities and are bound to complement and challenge current purely inorganic semiconductor based solutions. Technological developments in optical telecommunications, will lead to such vital components as high rate modulators, switches, frequency converters, all based on organics and polymer-based integrated optics opening the possibility of large volume and low cost production facilities as well as the availability of new broadband services. That same technology is leading to the development of new micro-laser sources based on different dyes and polymers targeted towards solid-state luminescence. The unique specificities of organics and related devices have also triggered the development of new “soft technologies” to replace more traditional techniques and the potential to lead to large and flexible displays and substrates.

· Nano-optics and Novel physics provide a broad range of applicable properties and jointly contribute to a better understanding of light-matter interactions at reduced scales. Physical phenomena will be essentially related to nonlinear effects and luminescence, including propagation phenomena, coherent control, light localization confinement, modal or spectral resonances with organic microcavities and the growing domain of photonic crystals as important illustrations, as well as nanostructures at the wavelength scale down to the “single molecule” level. The development of an advanced instrumentation has accompanied and truly enabled the development of molecular photonics, illustrated for example by the use of ultra short pulse intense laser sources and new types of microscopies (confocal, multiphotonic, near field etc.).

· Molecular Biophotonics covers fundamental mechanisms in living environments as well as biotechnologies, both taking advantages of advances in molecular photonics at the different stages of observation, diagnostic and intervention. Imaging and manipulation in complex biological processes at reduced scales in vitro as well as in vivo is now accessible from the cell dimension down to the single protein scale. Optical fluorescent or non-linear sensors have been developed successfully in order to answer specific questions via their sensitivity to environment changes such as membrane potential or structure, but also aggregation or polymerization processes. At a higher level of applications, molecular photonics is now able to provide flexible solutions to biomedical diagnostics, with the benefit of miniaturization such as in integrated systems for DNA recognition, microfluidics devices or cellular microarrays. Moreover, developments in laser sources and fiber optics allow to 　envision fast, precise and eventually remote photo-therapy.


    It is the purpose of the workshop to address those four areas, which provide a coherent backbone to the development of molecular photonics and biological sciences, this providing an “offer” which can sometimes anticipate the “demand” of the day. In summary, the main issues of these domains are two-fold: firstly to stimulate fundamental advances in the understanding of light-matter interactions in molecular media with implications in the physical, chemical and biological sciences, and secondly to provide a wealth of innovative propositions to renew concepts and functionalities in optoelectronics for information technologies based on the possibility of jointly tailoring light and molecular properties towards specific function of interest in telecommunications and life sciences.



Topics

1. Molecular engineering for photonics

· Molecular and material engineering guidelines for nonlinear optics, luminescence, transport and injection, photorefractive effect, photoconduction, photochromism, photo-switches, etc.
· Nanostructure scale: Self-assembly, nanocrystals, dendrites, metallic or semiconductor nanoclusters, ...
· Material engineering: Single crystals, functional polymers (low loss, multifunctional, ...), hybrid materials, holographic materials, liquid crystals, ...

2. Molecular devices and technologies

· Micro-scale devices:
· Integrated optics, microcavities (lasers, ...), waveguide devices (modulation, switches, ...), photodetectors, photonic crystal based devices, polymer optical fibers
· Soft technologies: Micro- and nano-imprints, photopolymerization and photo-induced patterning, molding, stamping, combining photonics with microfluidics
· Flat-panel technologies: Solar-cells, photovoltaics, displays, flexible substrates, ...

3. Nano-Optics and Novel physics

· Near-field Optics
· Two-Photon fabrication
· Polymer-based, organic and hybrid photonic crystals
· Cooperative nanoscale effects, nanoparticle interactions
· Single molecule photonics and spectroscopy
· Coherent control and optical poling
· Ultra-fast phenomena

4. Biophotonics

· Nonlinear (two-photon fluorescence, SHG, THG, ...) microscopy
· Gene recognition, optical reading of DNA chips
· Single molecules detection in biological environments
· Optical microscopy techniques and photonic probes applied to membranes, neural systems, cells,…
· Optical monitoring of protein folding, protein-protein interaction
· Optical tweezers
· Photonics in combinatorial chemistry
· Lab-on-a-chip with photonic functions