Physica prize 2014 for Albert Polman

AMOLF group leader Albert Polman has been honored with the prestigious Physica prize of the Netherlands Physical Society (NNV). The NNV grants the prize to Albert Polman for his outstanding contributions, both in the Netherlands and internationally, of the physics of light.

The NNV press release states: ”Lights plays an important role in our modern society. Large quantities of data are transported all over the world through glass fiber networks. Albert Polman is a world leader in the research and application of light. In his work, Polman shows an outstanding timing, making him always stay ahead in new research areas. He was the first to use ion implantation for the optical doping of materials. Not long afterwards, he showed how to control the optical properties of materials by structuring them at the nanoscale, making light behave completely differently. In this manner he recently demonstrated optical metamaterials with properties that do not occur in natural materials: refractive indices that can become zero or negative. A few years ago Albert Polman started a revolution in solar cell research with his suggestion that there is much to win by using light management.”

The Physica prize is granted yearly to an eminent physicist working in the Netherlands. Albert Polman will receive the prize on April 1st at the FYSICA 2014 conference in Leiden. He will then also hold the Physica lecture.

Albert Polman