About

Photonics deals with light generation, transmission, modulation and detection and has been identified as one of the key enabling technologies (KETs) by the European Union playing a central role in fields such as information and communication technology and healthcare. It relies heavily on the development of novel and more performing materials based on organic and hybrid semiconductors that allow fabrication of low cost, flexible and lightweight photonic devices such as amplifiers, switches, sensors and lasers.

To lead this “photonics revolution” and rip the societal benefits of being at the leading-edge of novel technological and scientific developments, the EU needs a highly-skilled scientific and technical workforce that can effectively implement the transition to a truly “knowledge-based society”. SYNCHRONICS is training 15 Early Stage Researchers in the synthesis, characterisation and application to photonics of supramolecularly-engineered functional materials within state-of the-art photonic nanostructures fabricated thanks to the top-quality facilities and unique expertise available within the network.

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Highly polarized emission of a supramolecular material

This kind of research requires an inter-multidisciplinary, intersectorial approach by specialized and skilled scientists from different disciplines, such as 12 highly specialised and internationally-leading teams, each one bringing a particular expertise in the emerging area of both supramolecular nanoscience and nanophotonics: organic and supramolecular synthesis (UNI-OX,UNI-W, SURFLAY), theory (UNI-GE, IBM, UNI-GE), surface studies (UdS, UCL), photophysics (IIT, IBM, UCL, UNI-GE,UNI-CY, UNI-MO), device fabrication and characterisation (IBM, AMO, SURFLAY, UCL, IIT, UNI-PI, UNI-GE). The Early Stage Researchers also benefit from carefully and intensively training through local, network wide, and extra-network activities in both scientific/technical topics, as well as complementary and managerial skills.