A Frontiers in Nanophotonics and Plasmonics Workshop was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil on 10-14 November 2007. This NSF funded event featured an international gathering of undergraduate and graduate students, post dosctoral researchers and professors fields of photonics, plasmonics and materials science, among others, where presentations on current research and round table discussions were held.

Recent discoveries in the fields of optical near-field, nanoscale manufacturing, and containment and transportation of light below the diffraction limit have resulted in the emergence of two new areas of research, nanophotonics and plasmonics. Discoveries in the field of surface plasmons have opened possibilities for the location, transportation, reflection and switching of optical frequencies below the scale of the wavelength of light. New concepts of micro and nanoscale devices use these properties to show a great potential for applications in the technologies of communication, information and other fields of science which is giving this area of research a far-reaching multidisciplinary nature into many areas of science.

The main objective of the workshop was the dissemination of the results of these new areas and the establishment of new cooperation between Brazilian researchers and Brazilian and foreign researchers in the areas of nanophotonics and plasmonics. This promotes interactions between researchers and students of post-graduate programs in different areas of knowledge such as materials science, electrical engineering, physics, biological physics, atomic and molecular biology and agricultural sciences.

Below are the links to many of the talks that were given at the Workshop:

• Bert Hecht, University of Wurzburg, Nanoantennas and single emitters
• Keren Bergman, Columbia University, Nanophotonic Optical Networks
• Naomi J. Halas, Rice University, Houston, The plasmonic nanoparticle-molecule interface
• Hugo L. Fragnito, IFGW - UNICAMP, Brazil, Grand Challenges in Optical Communications and Opportunities for Nanophotonics
• Arismar Cerqueira Jr., UNICAMP, Brazil, What are Photonic Crystals
• Euclydes Marega Jr., University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Semiconductor Quantum Dots for Nanophotonics Aplications
• Luiz E. Oliveira, UNICAMP, Brazil, A taste of photonics negative index of refraction and the non-Bragg gap in photonic superlattices
• Robert Boyd, University of Rochester, USA, Enhanced nonlinear optical response from nanoscale composite materials
• Lucila Helena D. Cescato, CAMPINAS, Brazil, Holographic fabrication of 2D and 3D photonic crystals
• Jandir Miguel Hickmann, Universidade Federal do Alagoas, Brazil, Photonic crystals polarization control and nanocomposites
• Maksim Skorobogatiy, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Loss Birefringence of a Microstructures Optical Fiber Containing Metal Coated Elliptical Inclusions
• Reuven Gordon, Univ. of Victoria, BC, Canada, Plasmonic Bragg Reflectors for Feedback and Isolation
• Meir Orenstein, Technion, Israel, Nano-Plasmonics of Complementary Structures
• Oskar Painter, CALTECH, Coherent Optical Probing of a Strongly Coupled Semiconductor QD-microdisk System
• John Weiner, Univ. Paul Sabatier& Univ. Sao Paulo, The Physics of Surface Plasom Polaritons