Laboratory of Materials Technology

Laboratory of Material Technologies is a shared initiative of two scientific centres: Centre of New Technologies (Warsaw University) and the Institute of Electronic Materials Technology (ITME). Laboratory is working closely with the Laboratory of Functional Materials situated in ITME. Prof. D. A. Pawlak is the leader of both laboratories which specialise in developing new material technologies and in obtaining novel materials applicable in photonics, optoelectronics, photoelectrochemistry and potentially in photovoltaics and medicine.

Both laboratories under one supervision act as one taking advantage of appliance resources and expertise of both scientific centres. This symbiosis allows to combine basic research with research with clearly specified applications.

Plasmonic materials are obtained by doping dielectric matrices with plasmonic nanoparticles and with the use of directional solidification of two-phase materials such as eutectic materials. As a result, new nanoplasmonic composite materials are being obtained such as: i) three-dimensional micro and nanostructured materials, ii) materials with isotropic properties, iii) materials with anisotropic properties, iv) materials which show plasmonic resonance properties at various wavelengths (from visible to infrared), v) materials with narrow and broadband resonances, and vi) materials with enhanced electromagnetic properties such as luminescence, up-conversion and others.

Metamaterials are composite materials exhibiting exceptional electromagnetic properties unobserved neither in its component phases nor in nature. Metamaterials can display extraordinary properties such as artificial magnetism, negative refractive index, giant dielectric constant, possibility to make objects invisible, can enable imaging with subwavelength resolution and others.

Photoactive materials. Eutectic materials may be also applied in photoelectrochemistry or photovoltaics as photoactive materials in the process of solar energy conversion into other types of energy. Eutectic materials used in solar energy conversion show bulk of assets: i) availability of two or more phases may allow broadening of light absorption spectrum, ii) interface boundaries may lead to more efficient discharge of electric charge produced by photoaging, iii) high crystallinity, iv) components normally unavailable can be used, v) various possibilities of properties control such as: doping, annealing, etching, combining with other materials.