News

The new plasma diagnostic MANTIS developed by DIFFER is giving a detailed look at the plasma conditions in the Swiss fusion experiment TCV. With 10 different channels and a frame rate of 200-2000 images per second, MANTIS can analyse density, temperature and the presence of impurities in the intense exhaust plasma of TCV.

So-called plasmonic sensors of noble metal nanoparticles follow how electrical charge is transfered during chemical reactions and energy conversion processes.

Ruben Hamans is one of the three finalists for the 2017 KNCV Golden Master Thesis award. Ruben did his thesis in the Nanomaterials for Energy Applications group at DIFFER, working on the assembly of a super-resolution microscope.

Starting September 2018, the DIFFER group Photonics for Energy, headed by prof. Jaime Gómez Rivas, will become a full part of Eindhoven University of Technology. The group studies the interaction of electromagnetic waves and matter in a broad range of frequencies and at different temporal and spatial scales .

Scientists are looking for ways to make chemical reactions run on light. This may open the possibility to synthesize nanomaterials with unique properties and to steer chemical reactions towards new products. In one approach, metal nanoparticles added to a reactor can selectively absorb light and convert its energy to promote the growth of a thin shell of a different metal around them.