NEWS FEED
2024
Apr. 2 - Award
Dr. Large has just been awarded UTSA's Oustanding Graduate Mentor Award. This award honors Graduate Faculty recognized by their departments, their graduate students, and their college as excellent graduate mentors with demonstrated abilities to advise, support, sponsor and inspire graduate students in making progress toward completion of their degrees and becoming members of a larger professional community.
2023
Nov. 10 - New Publication
Our recent work on The Role of Plasmonic Antenna in Hot-Carrier-Driven Reactions on Bimetallic Nanostructures has just been published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C. This work was a collaboration with the group of Dr. Dmitry Kurouski at Texas A&M, and Dr. Stefanie Gräfe at the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Abbe Center of Photonics in Jena, Germany.
Sept. 28 - Contest
A cover image from the group's recent paper on Photonic band structures of 3D supercrystals has been selected by the Embassy of France in the U.S. as one of the finalists for the "An Artistic Odyssey Traversing Science" Photo Competition: https://france-science.com/contestants/nicolas-large/
Now we need popular votes to win this contest. Please, it only takes 30 seconds to click on the link above and cast your vote.
Thanks for your support!
Aug. 16 - Dr. Large's New Role
Dr. Large has been appointed as the new Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies in the Colleges of Sciences, starting September 1. Dr. Large will act as academic administrative manager for master’s programs on behalf of the college and will work collaboratively with the department chairs and graduate studies committees on COS master’s studies programs.
Aug. 11 - Summer REU
Some of our undergraduate students were very busy this summer...As part of our NSF-CCI project, Cheyenne Valles, spent 10 in the Quantum Nanophotonics group of Dr. Nick Vamivakas at the University of Rochester designing and characterizing photonic crystals and nanoparticle-on-mirror (NOM) cavities for single quantum dot coupling. After her successful summer REU, she presented a poster to the Rochester community.
Aug. 4 - Grant
Dr. Large has just been awarded a Grant from the FACE Fondation under their Transatlantic Mobility Program. The funded MAT-MOVE project will provide funding to support student visits between UTSA, the University of Toulouse and the University of Technologies of Troyes.
June 23 - Doctoral Dissertation
Today is a great day, as Priscilla Lopez successfully defended her Doctoral thesis. She passed with flying colors as the dissertation committee was unanimously pleased with her performance and overall research on both the experimental and computation fronts.
Congrats Priscilla and best wishes for your future endeavors!
June 22 - Habilitation Defense
Today, after a 2h-long oral defense in front a committee of experts, composed of Drs Renaud Bachelot (UTT), Jeremy Baumberg (Cambridge), Stephane Calvez (CNRS), Jen Dionne (Stanford), Naomi Halas (Rice), Teri Odom (Northwestern), and Adnen Malyah (U. Toulouse), Dr. Large successfully obtained his Habilitation from the University of Toulouse. The Habilitation is the highest university degree (above the PhD) someone can get in France and in other European countries and recognizes "the high scientific level of the candidate", the "originality of the candidate's work", and the "mastery of a research strategy".
June 14 - New Publication
Our work on Photoconductive control of high‑order localized surface plasmon modes in Au‑Si‑Au nanodisk stacking has just been published in the Journal of Nanoparticle Research.
June 1 - Conference
Last week, Dr. Large and Alex Ferere attended the 10th International Conference on Surface Plasmons Photonics (SPP10) held in Houston and presented the group's recent work on Acousto-plasmonics and Raman Energy Density.
2022
Dec. 8 - Graduation
Yesterday, Dr. Large hooded his first graduate student.... Dr. Joel Rigor!
Joel was Dr. Large's very first student in and is his first student out! This is the capstone of Joel's hard work since he joined our group in 2017. We are proud of his achievement and wish him all the best for his new endeavor in California.
Congratulations Dr. Rigor!
Dec. 7 - Certification
Dr. Large has just earned a microcredential in Inlcusive Teaching for Equitabe Learning from the Association of College and University Educators. This microcredential, co-issued by the American Council on Education, is awarded for the completion of a 10-week course that provides instructors with proven strategies to create a more equitable and just learning environment. Modules in this microcredential help faculty manage the impact of impact of implicit bias, reduce microaggressions, address imposter phenomenon and stereotype threat, create inclusive learning environments, and design equity-centered courses.
Oct. 28 - New Publication
Our work on Raman energy density in the context of acoustoplasmonics has just been published in Physical Review B. This was done in collaboration with Dr. Adnen Mlayah at the University of Toulouse, France.
Sept. 30 - New Publication
Our work on Photonic band structure calculation of 3D finite nanostructured supercrystals has just been published in Nanovscale Advances.
Aug. 4 - New Publication
Our work on Plasmonic Heating Effects in Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (TERS) has just been published in J. Phys. Chem. C. as part of the special issue “Nanophotonics for Chemical Imaging and Spectroscopy”. This work was a collaboration with Dr. Dmitry Kurouski at Texas A&M University.
Apr. 26 - President's Distinguished Achievement Award
Dr. Large has been awarded UTSA's President's Distinguished Achievement Award for Advancing Globalization. This award recognizes Dr Large's instrumental role in the development of a dual-degree program in Physics and of multiple collaborative research agreements with institutions throughout France and Mexico, as well as his continuous efforts to increasing UTSA's international reputation and visibility.
Watch here: https://youtu.be/N8uXlDmf5uM
Apr. 13 - Doctoral Dissertation
Today is a great day as Joel Rigor successfully defended his Doctoral thesis. He passed with flying colors as the dissertation committee was unanimously impressed and pleased with Joel's performance and overall research.
Joel was the first student to join the group and is now the first student to fly out of the nest (and certainly not the last)!
Now Joel can focus onto the next step of his journey as he will soon be flying out to California to start his new job at Applied Materials.
Congrats Joel and best wishes for your future endeavors!
Feb. 4 - New Publication
Our work on Computational analysis of drug free silver triangular nanoprism theranostic probe plasmonic behavior for in-situ tumor imaging and photothermal therapy has just been published in J. Adv. Res. This work was a collaboration with Dr. Junghwan Oh at Pusan National University.
2021
Dec. 16 - UTSA News
The University of Texas at San Antonio today announced that it has achieved the R1 Classification (“very high research activity”) from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. This elite designation validates the breadth and strength of UTSA’s knowledge enterprise and aligns the university with the nation’s top public and private research institutions.
Nov. 9 - #FacultySpotlight
Dr. Large's involvement in the newly NSF-funded QuEST center has been recently featured in the #FacultySpotlight of UTSA's College of Science Newsletter.
Oct. 4 - Grant
We are excited to be part of the new NSF Center for Quantum Electrodynamics for Selective Transformations (QuEST). This center, hosted at the University of Rochester, brings together an interdisciplinary team, which will explore creative strategies to enable new chemical reactivities beyong traditional paradigm of chemistry by utilizing quantum light-matter interactions between molecules and radiation inside optical cavities. More Information HERE.
https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/high-risk-project-quantum-science-transform-chemistry-495512/
Oct. 1 - Qualifying Exam
Congratulations to Priscilla Lopez for her QE, she is advancing to Candidacy! She's done a terrific job during her presentation, which illustrates perfectly the work she has put on during these past few year! Well done Priscilla.
Sep. 1 - New Group Members
The Computational Nanophotonics group is growing as we welcome two new group members: Julia Kise and John Leblanc. Both John and Julia are graduate students and will be working on the ONR-sponsored project which focuses on Acousto-Plasmonic Interactions for Unconventional Nanoscale Light Manipulation and Integrated High Accuracy Sensors. Welcome Julia and John!
Jul. 8 - New Publication
Our work on Enhanced dual plasmonic photocatalysis through plasmonic coupling in eccentric noble metal-nonstoichiometric copper chalcogenide hetero-nanostructures has just been published in Nano. Res. This work was a collaboration with Dr. Hao Jing at George Mason University.
Jul. 7 - New Publication
Our work on Magneto-plasmonic biocompatible nanorice has just been published in J. Nanopart. Res. This work was a collaboration with Dr. Reyes Coronado at UNAM.
June 25 - Grant
Dr. Large has just been awarded a Research Grant from the Department of Navy. This 3-year project funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) will focus on the use Acousto-Plasmonic Interactions for Unconventional Nanoscale Light Manipulation and Integrated High Accuracy Sensors.
Apr. 12 - Certification
Dr. Large has just earned his credentials in Effective Instruction from the Association of College and University Educators. This certificate represents the completion of a 25-module course in effective teaching practices requiring the implementation of evidence-based instructional approaches. The credential is co-issued by the American Council on Education and distinguishes faculty for their commitment to educational excellence and student success.
Mar. 18 - Conference
Joel Rigor has presented his recent work on Plasmonic-Induced Luminescence of MoSe2 Monolayers in a Scanning Tunneling Microscope at the APS March Meeting
Feb. 2 - New Group Members
The Computational Nanophotonics group welcomes new group members. Zain Manasia, Miguel Hernandez, and Alex Ferere, all Physics undergraduate students are joining the group. Welcome.
Jan. 25 - New Publication
Our recent collaboration work on the Underlying mechanisms of hot carrier-driven reactivity on bimetallic nanostructures has just been published in J. Phys. Chem. C. This work was a collaboration with Dr. Kurouski at Texas A&M University.
2020
Nov. 14 - Conference
Vida Nooshnab, Rudin Kraja, and Emil Penafiel have presented their recent work on at the Texas Section APS Meeting:
Photoconductive Control of High Order Localized Surface Plasmon Modes in Au-Si-Au Nanodisk Stacking (Vida Nooshnabd)
Morphological Effects on the Plexitonic Interaction in Au@MoSe2 Nanodisk Dimers (Emil Penafiel)
Computational Modeling of the Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) of Periodic Silver Nanosphere Arrays (Rudin Kraja)
Oct. 23 - Course offering
Dr. Large offers a course in Nanophotonics & Plasmonics for the Spring 2021 semester. This semester the course will be delivered online asynchronously. Videos will be made available on this website and on Youtube. If you are interested in taking this course, please email Dr. Large.
Oct. 15 - New Publication
Our recent collaboration work on the Plasmonic-Induced Luminescence of MoSe2 Monolayers in a Scanning Tunneling Microscope has just been published in ACS Photonics. This work was a collaboration with Drs. Péchou, Corratger, and Mlayah at the University of Toulouse.
Sept. 10 - Conference
Rudin Kraja, Emil Penafiel, and Joel Rigor have presented their recent work on at the 81st JSAP-OSA Joint Autumn Meeting in Japan:
Morphological Effects on the Plexitonic Interaction in Au@MoSe2 Nanodisk Dimers (Emil Penafiel)
Plasmonic Heating effects in Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (Joel Rigor)
Finite-Size Effects in Periodic Silver Nanosphere Arrays Revealed using Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) Modeling (Rudin Kraja)
Aug. 25 - New Publication
Our recent collaboration work on the Wavelength and polarization dependence of second harmonic responses from gold nanocrescent arrays has just been published in J. Phys. Chem. C.
July 21 - Scholarship | Award
Congratulations to Vida Nooshnab and Emil Penafiel who have been awarded the Graduate Student Competitive Scholarship from the UTSA's Graduate School.
July 17 - Grant
Dr. Large has just been awarded the a Research Collaboration Grant sponsored by ConTex. This grant will enable a collaboration with Dr. Nancy Ornelas-Soto from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education and Dr. Katie Mayer from UTSA to work on nano-colloids of core-shell particles as a new approach for the optical sensing of contaminants of emerging concern.
July 6 - New Publication
Our recent work on the Multiphysics Modeling of Plasmonic Photothermal Heating Effects in Gold Nanoparticles and Nanoparticle Arrays has just been published in J. Phys. Chem. C.
May 14 - Media
Dr. Large wrote an opinion piece on virtual conferences. It is accessible on Linked-in and Researchgate.
Apr. 28 - Fellowship | Award
Congratulations to Emil Penafiel who has been awarded a Chateaubriand Fellowship from the Embassy of France in the US. This fellowship will allow Emil to spend 9 months in France to conduct research in the group of Dr. Adnen Mlayah at the University of Toulouse.
Mar. 1 - Media
Where Inclusive Excellence Meets Cutting-Edge Physical Science Research. We, scientists and researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio practice inclusive excellence. That means cutting-edge research with world renown experts is underway and EVERYONE is welcome. It's an opportunity to level the playing field in physics and UTSA is leading that fight. Undergraduate and graduate students are exposed to material science, biophysics, and astrophysics, both in the laboratory and theoretically. And with amazing partnerships and collaborations with industry and national labs, this next generation of scientists get a real-world taste of life after academia.
Feb. 21 - Visit
Dr. Patrick Fletcher from Seagate Technology is visiting us. He will give a seminar on "Thermometry of Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording Heads".
Jan. 6 - New Publication
Our recent work on the Direct Experimental Evidence of Hot-Carrier-Driven Chemical Processes in Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (TERS) has just been published in J. Phys. Chem. C. This work was done in collaboration with the group of Dr. Dmitry Kurouski at Texas A&M University.
2019
Nov. 22 - Visit
Prof. Teri Odom from Northwestern University is visiting us. She will give a seminar on "Conformal Solid‐state Emitters Coupled to Plasmonic Nanoparticle Arrays".
Nov. 15 - Conference
Rudin Kraja presented his work on Computational Modeling of the Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) of
Plasmonic Metasurfaces at the Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium (GCURS) in Houston, TX and the 2019 Physics Congresss (PhysCon) in Providence, RI.
Nov. 1 - Fellowship | Award
Congratulations to Emil Penafiel who has been awarded Carlos Alvarez Endowment Fellowship.
Oct. 25 - Visit
Prof. Jun Lou from Rice University is visiting us. He will give a seminar on "The Emergence of the Flatlands: Synthesis, Characterization and Application of Two-Dimensional Materials".
Sep. 9 - New Publication
Our recent work on the Synthesis, characterization, and computational modeling of polyelectrolyte-coated plasmonic gold nanorods for photothermal heating studies has just been published in the Proceedings of SPIE.
Aug. 19 - Conference
Joel Rigor and Priscilla Lopez presented their work on magneto-plasmonics and the optical properties of gold bi-nanorods at the SPIE Optics & Photonics conference in San Diego.
Aug. 16 - New Publication
Our recent work on the Controlled overgrowth of five-fold concave nanoparticles into plasmonic nanostars and their single-particle scattering properties has just been published in ACS Nano. This work was done in collaboration with the group of Dr. Stephan Link at Rice University.
June 25 - Grant
Dr. Large has just been awarded the a grant sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson Fund from the FACE Foundation. This grant will enable a collaboration with Dr. Remi Vincent from the Technological University of Troyes to work on hybrid metallic-semiconducting metasurfaces.
June 7 - Workshop
Rudin Kraja has participated to a NSF-supported summer school on computational modeling of complex materials at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has learned the basics of computer programming using a high-level language, such as Fortran, MatLab and Python, in Linux programming environment for conducting simulations using classical/quantum-mechanical molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo methods.
May 17 - Fellowship | Award
Congratulations to Joel Rigor who has been awarded a Chateaubriand Fellowship from the Embassy of France in the US. This fellowship will allow Joel to spend 9 months in France to conduct research in the group of Dr. Adnen Mlayah at the University of Toulouse.
May 13 - New Group Members
The Computational Nanophotonics group welcomes new group members. Jesús Castrejón Figueroa from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and Aurélien Goerlinger from the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) of Lyon, France will be visiting the group for the summer. Welcome.
Apr. 26 - Conference
José Luis Montaño Priede presented his work on Acousto-plasmonics and Hybrid 3D superlattices at the MRS Spring National Meeting in April.
Feb. 14 - New Publication
A recent work on the Detection of the conformational changes of Discosoma red fluorescent proteins adhered on silver nanoparticles-based nanocomposites via SERS has just been published in Nanotechnology. This work was done in collaboration with the group of Dr. Kremena Makasheva and Prof. Adnen Mlayah at the University of Toulouse.
2018
Nov. 28 - Research Highlight
The Office of Information and Technology at UTSA has just published an highlight on our recent Optics Express (HERE)
Nov. 13 - Scholarship | Award
Congratulations to Emil Penafiel who has been awarded the Merle and Helen Converse Endowed Scholarship for a second consecutive year.
Nov. 8 - DoD / ARO Grant
Oct. 26 - New Publication
A recent work on Surface-enhance resonant Raman scattering of Au@MoSe2 substrates has just been published in Optics Express. This work was done in collaboration with the group of Prof. Jun Lou at Rice University and Prof. Adnen Mlayah at the University of Toulouse.
Oct. 16 - International Collaborations
Dr. Large has just traveled to Toulouse in France with an official UTSA delegation to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to frame and strengthen research collaborations and students exchanges in Materials Science between UTSA and the University Federal of Toulouse.
Aug. 21 - Conference
Dr. Large presented his work on Acousto-plasmonics at the ACS Fall National Meeting.
Aug. 20 - New Group Member
The Computational Nanophotonics group welcomes a new group member Vida Nooshnab. Welcome Vida!
June 25 - Conference
Dr. Large presented his work on Acoustoplasmonics at the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Noble Metal Nanoparticles.
June 6 - New Group Members
The Computational Nanophotonics group is growing as three new undergraduate students join the group: Mauricio Martinez, Michael Brinkman, and Ramón Amézquita. Ramón is coming from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and will be spending 8 weeks in our group. Welcome!
Apr. 20 - Conference
The Computational Nanophotonics group has a strong presence at this year San Antonio Nanotechnology Forum (SANTF) with a total of 4 posters presented by Luis, Nelson, Emil, and Joel.
Jan. 20 - New Group Members
The Computational Nanophotonics group is growing as two new undergraduate students join the group: Nelson Umanzor and Jospeh Garcia. Welcome!
2017
Nov. 13 - New Group Member
The Computational Nanophotonics group is growing as we welcome José Luis Montaño Priede. Luis graduated from the Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico and is joining the group as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Welcome Luis!
Nov. 08 - Scholarships | Awards
Congratulations to Emil Penafiel who is the recipient of the inaugural Merle and Helen Converse Endowed Scholarship (photo) and of the Carlos and Malu Alvarez Special Opportunities Fund Fellowship.
Oct. 6 - Conference | Awards
Two members of the group have presented their work at the 9th UTSA College of Science Research Conference, Emil Penafiel and Gesuri Morales Luna and both of them have been awarded the awards for the best undergraduate student presentation and best visiting graduate student presentation, respectively. Congratulations Emil and Gesuri!
Sep. 12 - New Group Members
The Computational Nanophotonics group is growing as we welcome Joel Rigor, Master student, and Brandon Rangel, undergraduate Physics major. Gesuri Morales Luna, a PhD student from UNAM in Mexico is also joining the group as a visiting researcher for three months.
Aug. 6 - Conference
Dr. Large has presented his work on EELS modeling at the SPIE Optics & Photonics conference in San Diego.
June 30 - New Publication
D. Kurouski, N. Large, N. Chiang, A.-I. Henry, T. Seideman, G.C. Schatz, and R.P. Van Duyne, J. Phys. Chem. C 2017, 121, 14737
May 9 - Presentation
Emil Penafiel has presented his work on hybrid plasmonics during the UTSA Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry Showcase.
Apr. 14 - Scholarship | Award
Emil Penafiel has been awarded the Office of Undergraduate Research’s UG Scholarship. This competitive award will allow Emil to continue working on his hybrid plasmonics project during the Summer 2017. Congratulations Emil!
Mar. 28 - Grant
A $3M DoD grant from the Office of Naval Research on which Dr. Large will be participating as a collaborator has been accepted. Dr. Large will be working, in collaboration with Prof. Rick Van Duyne at Northwestern University, on plasmonic-dielectric metamaterials for enhanced spectroscopy and controlled chemistry.
Feb. 1 - New member
Emil Penafiel, a Physics major, is joining the group as an Undergraduate Research Assistant. Emil will be working on hybrid plexcitonic nanostructures.
Jan. 25 - Conferences
Dr. Large will be presenting his research at the upcoming ACS Spring Meeting in San Francisco and at the MRS Spring Meeting in Phoenix in April.
2016
Dec. 22 - New Publication
A. Maiti, A. Maity, B. Satpati, N. Large, and T.K. Chini, J. Phys. Chem. C 2017, 121, 731
Dec. 7 - Seminar
Dr. Large presented his work at The University of Texas, Austin, TX.
Dec. 6 - Conference
Dr. Large gave a keynote speech on Computational Plasmonics at the 2016 Nanotek conference in Phoeniz, AZ.
Nov. 3 - Course offering
Dr. Large offers a course in Nanophotonics & Plasmonics for the Spring 2017 semester (See Flyer for more information). If you are interested in taking this course, please email Dr. Large by Nov. 25
Oct. 25-26 - Seminars
Dr. Large presented his work in computational plasmonics at the Faculty of Sciences and at the Institute of Physics at UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico
Oct. 13 - Conference
Dr. Large presented his work in computational plasmonics at the Nanotechnology Week in Hermosillo, Mexico.
Oct. 5 - New Publication
Reversible Shape and Plasmon Tuning in Hollow AgAu Nanorods.
S. Yazdi, J.R. Daniel, N. Large, G.C. Schatz, D. Boudreau, and E. Ringe, Nano Lett. 2016, 16, 6939
Sept. 27 - Seminar
Dr. Large presented his work at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, TX.
Sept. 14 - Conference
Dr. Large presented his work on Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy in Finite-Difference Time-Domain at the 14th International Conference on Near-Field Optics, Nanophotonics, and Related Techniques (NFO-14) in Hamamatsu, Japan on Sept. 5.
May. 26 - Seminar
Dr. Large presented his work at the Center for Materials Elaboration and Structural Studies (CEMES-CNRS) in Toulouse, France.