Single-molecule spectroscopy has become a powerful method for using organic fluorescent molecules in numerous applications.

Metal complexes and 2D materials like graphene were combined to produce structures that can function as sensors.

Promotor: M.A.G.J. Orrit

In this work, we illustrate unconventional approaches towards the fabrication of edge functionalized graphene nanostructures and bidimensional architectures in polymeric and metallic supports, with an outlook towards molecular sensing devices.

How do you make a technology sustainable that does not even exist yet? Well, by bringing together an interdisciplinary team of pioneering European experts right at the start and paying attention to sustainability right from the development phase.

Promotor: Prof.dr. M.A.G.J. Orrit

Science, Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML)

The surface and the edges of graphene are expected to provide higher sensitivity and specificity in detecting and characterizing single molecules. However fundamental physical limits exist in reaching an ultimate precision in detecting the dynamics of chemical and biological systems. The research in…

Industrial ecologists Stefano Cucurachi and Flora Siebler are part of the new consortium PROGENY, which received 3.6 million euros from the European Commission. PROGENY is an exciting project that will study the possibilities of soap films for innovations, such as ultra-thin screens.

A collaboration of physicists and chemists organized the LEELIS conference on new computer chip technology in Amsterdam on 10-11 November. Leiden physicist Joost Frenken is director of the organizing institute ARCNL.

Bernard van Heck has won the Christiaan Huygens Prize 2016 for his Leiden PhD research on electrical circuits for quantum computers. On behalf of the KNAW, the Dutch minister of Education, Culture and Science awards this prize annually to a researcher who has made an innovative contribution to scien…

Optical detection of a single electron using a single molecule has never been done. Leiden physicist Michel Orrit and his team have now identified a molecule that is sensitive enough to detect an electron at a distance of hundreds of nanometers. The results are published as a cover article in ChemPh…

Lecture

Leiden and Jülich researchers discovered an elegant and simple approach to improve the sensitivity of graphene biosensors. These so-called ‘next generation graphene electronic biochemical sensor devices’ are able to detect very low amounts of HIV DNA thanks to their very low electronic noise.

The Italian physicist Andrea Morello is one of the pioneers of the quantum revolution. He is currently doing research at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, but cherishes his time as a PhD candidate in Leiden.

Graphene has held a great promise for applications since it was first isolated in 2004. But we still don’t use it in our large-scale technology, because we have no way of producing graphene on an industrial scale. Leiden physicists have now visualized for the first time how atoms behave in between graphene…

Rare-earth materials are prime candidates for storing quantum information, because the undesirable interaction with their environment is extremely weak. Consequently however, this lack of interaction implies a very small response to light, making it hard to read and write data. Leiden physicists have…

An international group of scientists, led by Leiden physicist Sense Jan van der Molen, has developed the first switchable molecular diode. You can turn this on and off through humidity. Vice versa, it is a humidity sensor at the nanoscale. Publication on 4 December in Nature Nanotechnology.

Lecture, Studium Generale

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The Joan Van der Waals colloquium is an ongoing bi-weekly lecture series.