Doctoral Student Wins Nano Innovation Award for Highly Sensitive Microscope

Thomas Hümmer, a doctoral student at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat (LMU) Munich and Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, has been awarded €6000 for developing a highly sensitive microscope that explores the optical properties of nano-objects. The Nano Innovation Award is given for best innovative doctoral thesis. Hümmer's microscope uses two opposing mirrors whose light is reflected back and forth hundreds of thousands of times. If a nanoparticle is placed between the mirrors, its interaction with light will be strongly enhanced. This effect allows the detection of light absorption as weak as one photon in a million. Because one of the mirrors is the size of a human hair, a scanning microscope can be built that...