Abstract:
Over the course of evolutionary history, environmental pressures have motivated the development of a diverse set of optical mechanisms found across a wide spectrum of organisms. Finely tuned, organically derived, and necessarily efficient, these natural solutions serve as bio-inspired models for optimized photonic and phononic systems. In this talk, we focus on natural and man-made biological photonic and phononic devices that have transformed our understanding of light matter interactions. Here, we begin with a brief introduction describing the natural structures. While numerous species offer rich sources of insight, we provide several examples aiming to provide a contextual background of recent investigations into biomimetic structures and we discuss the building blocks of biological photonic devices observed in natural and bio-inspired systems. Finally, we examine frontier applications made possible by the recent advances in enhanced light matter interactions of protein based devices.
Biography:
Melik Demirel, Lloyd and Dorothy Huck Endowed Chair in Biomimetic Materials, is a scientist and innovator with expertise in biotechnology, nanotechnology and materials science. He is currently directing the Center for Advanced Fiber Technologies (CRAFT). Over the last two decades, Professor Demirel and his research team have focused on developing functional nanoscale biomimetic materials. His team designed, fabricated and synthesized advanced materials by studying the functional transitions of biomimetic systems, both computationally and experimentally. Prof. Demirel's achievements have been recognized, in part, through his receipt of a Young Investigator Award from the Department of Defense, an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, as a Wyss Institute Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, an Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter Junior Fellowship, The Nicholas and Gelsa Pelick Biotechnology Innovation Award and the Pearce Development Professorship, and a Penn State Engineering Alumni Society Outstanding Research Award. Prof. Demirel received his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA, and BS/MS degrees from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey. Prof. Demirel is well known for his ground-breaking work on bioinspired programmable materials.
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