Current State of Knowledge

Two major directions of nanospectroscopy research are geared towards developing high-resolution measurement techniques, and towards applying these techniques for gaining physical, chemical or biological information at the nanoscale. Over the last few decades, optical spectroscopy has managed to reach sub-wavelength spatial resolution in combination with sub-wavenumber spectral accuracy and simultaneous topographic mapping. Time-resolution has been pushed towards femtosecond pulses, offering time-resolved spectra with high signal-to-noise ratio. Currently, confocal and time-resolved fluorescence, transient absorption, and surface- and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, as well as dark-field scattering and absorption spectroscopy are applied to probe the spectral features of objects with high spatial, spectral, and/or temporal resolution. Nanospectroscopy allows for monitoring material properties, chemical reactions, or physical effects down to the single molecule level and a spatial resolution below 10 nm. The main systems that nanospectroscopy is currently applied to are optical nanoantennas, quantum dots / nanocrystals, single molecules / fluorophores, surfaces of material blends, and biological systems / cells.

Current research programs within the EU framework are aimed at employing nanospectroscopy for high-sensitivity biosensing, ultra-high resolution imaging for medicine and biology, applying theses techniques to new areas of application like lanthanides and actinides (the f-elements) or geological samples, at improving large-scale application, reproducibility, and data analysis routines, devising calibration standards for Raman spectroscopy, and at improving light sources and filters. Given the considerable equipment requirements of nanospectroscopy, research is mostly confined to Europe, the USA, and parts of Asia. European and US research are competing e.g. in the fields of nanospectroscopic sensing and high-resolution techniques, with many strong groups located in Europe. Many leading nanospectroscopic equipment vendors with strong R&D activities are based within Europe, but have strong competition in their US counterparts. Thus, the synergistic efforts within the COST Action will push European competitiveness in a future key technology.

The present Action will expand the range of systems that are investigated by nanospectroscopic means, using nanofabrication and molecular engineering approaches to devise novel hybrid composites and devices. It will bring innovation by evolving existing techniques to further improve their signal intensity, contrast, sensitivity, and robustness. State-of-the-art optical nanospectroscopy will specifically be addressed to the global problems of energy efficiency, light harvesting, and health care. 

Reasons for the Action

The prime reason for the COST Action NanoSpectroscopy is the conviction that by promoting a Europe-wide dialogue and network between key actors in nanospectroscopy across different disciplines, countries, techniques, and targeted applications, as well as between academia and stakeholders in industry, the powerful techniques which form the basis of nanospectroscopy can be much more efficiently employed, more broadly distributed, and more key questions of scientific, industrial, and societal interest can be identified for which nanospectroscopy can find an answer. Optical spectroscopy at the nanoscale emerged in the late 1980s to early 1990s, and much progress has been made to date in understanding aspects of the behaviour of nano-materials. Still, many technical limitations and open questions remain, such as: How can sensitivity be further improved and single nano-objects be selectively addressed? What are the processes involved and the emerging properties when different types of nano-systems are coupled? What added value can hybrid nano-systems bring for technological applications? Current scientific endeavours tend to lead to segregation into separate communities according to the types of nanostructure under investigation. This COST Action will aim to promote a cohesive community across Europe that seeks to establish/maintain a world-leading position for European nanospectroscopy.

In many respects, nanospectroscopy techniques are still restricted to research laboratories, since they require elaborate equipment, expert knowledge on data analysis, and are not yet optimized for large areas, extreme conditions, or minimum time consumption. To make these promising techniques more accessible, a network of experts from fundamental and applied research as well as R&D is required. The COST Action scheme was therefore identified as an ideal means to promote European dialogue. Significant potential is perceived for technology transfer and collaboration with industry, in which Europe can lead the way if sufficient resources are allocated for co-ordinating the research efforts.

The objectives of this Action are to advance nanospectroscopic techniques, knowledge on the nanoscale properties of novel materials, and the distribution of nanospectroscopy. The pursuit of these objectives is expected to result in instrumentation and approaches with improved performances that are easier to operate for a broader set of users, and in the synthesis and fabrication of novel nanomaterials. The means needed to achieve them include the exchange of knowledge and ideas on different methods and analyte systems, from which new fruitful combinations and collaborations will arise. It is a crucial goal of this COST Action to engage in a dialogue with relevant industry partners. The Action is convinced that the improvement of existing nanospectroscopy techniques and equipment, in terms of stability, ease of data analysis and broader applications, will promote the implementation of these techniques by industry.

As future benefits, a new generation of nanospectroscopy researchers will be trained within the Action. New basic knowledge on the fundamental processes of life, material properties, and energy transfer processes will be gained, which will be of great significance for future applications. Key challenges currently faced by European societies can thus be addressed in the fields of energy efficiency (solar cells, batteries, LEDs, sensors, material design), healthcare/medicine for an ageing society (drug design and targeted delivery, early disease detection), or material design (stability, hydrophobicity, low friction, high intensity yield, cost effectiveness, ...). The short-term goals are mainly aimed at scientific and technological advances, while the long-term economic and societal benefits of the results may prove to be considerable as well.?

Objectives

As the main objective of COST NanoSpectroscopy, a multi-site, multidisciplinary European training and collaboration network will be established, which will cohesively combine aspects generally addressed as separate topics in the field of nanospectroscopy: improving spectroscopic techniques and instrumentation towards (ultra-)high resolution and sensitivity as well as user-friendly (turn-key) techniques, engineering molecular structures or nanoparticles, applying them for gaining basic knowledge on light-matter-interaction and for improving optical applications/devices, and theoretical modelling. The main objective is to make nanospectroscopy available to a broader range of topics, materials, and end users. As scientific objectives, organic layers and molecules with novel properties will be created by molecular engineering, and novel hybrid nanosystems (organic-inorganic, semiconducting-metallic, metallic-metallic) will be fabricated using nanotechnology. These nanosystems will be spectroscopically investigated. A particular focus will be on analyzing energy and charge flow and light harvesting at the nanoscale, to improve materials for applications e.g. in photovoltaics or sensing/medical diagnostics.

Outreach activities will make the new developments accessible to a wider audience. The COST Action will serve as a nucleus for developing joint proposals, from bilateral collaborations to European projects.

Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) will be trained in joint research projects, Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSMs), hands-on training, and training schools organized by ESRs for ESRs. Stronger links between industry and academia are expected to trigger joint instrumentation development. A list of current open issues in nanospectroscopic instrumentation and data analysis development will be drafted in communication with industry and disseminated via the Action's public website. Each year, one joint COST NanoSpectroscopy workshop will be organized. The objectives of these activities are synergies from interdisciplinary work between Experts from different areas. Well-trained ESRs will be able to identify the next generation of scientific topics. A coherent textbook on nanospectroscopy will be written and published by the Participants. The COST framework is ideally suited to reach the above objectives, since it enables reducing fragmentation in the field of nanospectroscopy and connecting groups using different techniques with groups working on different model systems in a concerted Action. It constitutes a logical extension of the applicants' existing informal network to the European level.

How Will Networking within the Action Yield the Objectives?

Networking within the Action will bring together the necessary expertise from the different areas of the diverse communities that are working with/on nanospectroscopy. Interdisciplinary collaborations cross-linking materials design with nanospectroscopic techniques will lead to fresh approaches and open up additional fields of application for nanospectroscopy, and enlarge the end user community. By promoting communication, bi- and multilateral research projects and technology transfer will emerge. By integrating ESRs into the networking activities, a new generation of nanospectroscopy experts will be trained.

Target Groups and End Users

Academia: Knowledge on technical issues, basic science, energy aspects, material properties, and physico- chemical effects at the nanoscale will be increased. By dissemination and training, a new generation of academics is instructed. Both established and junior researchers were involved in preparing the Action.

Industry: Connections between academia and industry will be strengthened for instrument development, training, and wider applications (e.g. development of turn-key nanospectroscopy techniques), with the possible creation of spin-off companies. An R&D institute was involved in preparing this Action.

Interested general public: The knowledge obtained in the context of this COST Action will be disseminated through a dedicated website, talks at international conferences, and a coherent textbook on nanospectroscopy.

Long-term societal benefit: This Action will pave the way towards improvements in areas of strong societal impact, such as energy efficiency, materials and medical development, or light-to-energy-conversion, and increase general knowledge on topics of broad interest like the basic processes of life.

Coordination and Organisation

The COST Action NanoSpectroscopy is chaired by an Action Chair and a Vice Action Chair. It is represented by the Management Committee according to the Rules and Procedures for Implementing COST Actions. Each participating institution should name one Representative to the Action Chairs as their contact person. The Action will be actively advertised. Apart from Management, four Working Groups will be set up to address the areas "System design and nanofabrication", "Physical processes and modelling", "Improvement of spectroscopic techniques" and "Preparation of a textbook".

The individual research activities and projects within COST NanoSpectroscopy will be initialized, defined, funded and organized by the participating scientific groups/countries. COST NanoSpectroscopy will promote and coordinate the networking and dissemination activities and communication between the Participants. Research links and new project ideas across the different techniques, materials, applications, and countries will be established within the WGs. For each of the WGs, one WG Leader and one Vice WG Leader will be elected by the MC. Each Participant should indicate his/her participation in one or more WGs.

As milestones of COST NanoSpectroscopy, annual workshops will be organized where new scientific results and directions will be discussed. A database of European nanospectroscopy activities will be established, an Action list of current issues in nanospectroscopy instrumentation development will be compiled, and a coherent textbook on nanospectroscopy will be published. In terms of materials, the Action expects to develop improved techniques for the fabrication of nanostructures and position-controlled integration of individual optically-active species (quantum dots, molecules, core-shell nanocrystals, di- and oligomers, etc.). The efforts in theoretical modelling aim to establish new toolboxes for the understanding of energy flow at the nanoscale, usable not only by theorists but also by experimentalists. The targeted refinement of nanospectroscopic techniques and near-field probes, honed by investigations of the aforementioned novel nanomaterials, can be expected to make spectroscopic techniques with ultra-high spatio-temporal resolution available to a greater number of partners in academia and industry. A dedicated website will be set up for the COST Action NanoSpectroscopy. The contents will be updated at least once every three months to include a current list of the Participants, references to new publications by the Participants, short articles, announcements of upcoming COST activities, and links to information for the general public.

The annual NanoSpectroscopy workshop will be scheduled to take place in a different country each year. For this purpose, national teams will be appointed to be in charge of local organization. For practical purposes, some single-day hands-on training courses and industry dialogue meetings may be mostly targeted but not restricted to researchers within a certain travelling radius. Reports of these activities will however be posted on the COST NanoSpectroscopy website.