Prestigious European Grant for Nanotechnology Research

Professor Sergey Bozhevolnyi leader of the Centre for Nano Optics has received an ERC Advanced Grant of more than 17 million kroner from the European Research Council. He receives the research grant for his work on using light to guide the future sea of information in computers.

- Traffic congestion on the European motorways in July is nothing to worry about in relation to the information stoppers which is expected to hit us and cripple our society, if we don’t find a solution, says Sergey Bozhevolnyi.

Ground breaking research
Today’s electronic computer chips must throw up the game on the increasing flow of information, but light is able to lead the oceans of information around a thousand times more efficiently. Therefore, Sergey Bozhevolnyi stubbornly continues to look into the special microscopes, in which he can follow the light in a Nano-scale corresponding to a billionth of a meter.

ERC Advanced Grant is awarded to exceptional directors of research institutes who have conducted outstanding research results. That is what Sergey Bozhevolnyi has done. Since he received a phD in integrated optics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1981, he has devoted his time to research on light. In 1998 this resulted in a doctorate.

New supercomputers
Professor Sergey Bozhevolnyi entered the absolute world scene in 2006, when he published an article in the scientific journal Nature. With the colloquial title: Channel plasmon subwavelength waveguide components, he created a revolution in the world of research.

His research group had shown that a particular type of light can be concentrated, so it can be controlled through very small circuits. It was new and invaluable knowledge that researchers around the world currently employ in the quest to develop supercomputers in which data transfer is done with light instead of electrical signals.

Professor Sergey Bozhevolnyi and his research group plan to spend the grant from the European Research Council on continuing the long-term work to steer light into a new generation of supercomputers. However, the researchers will also try to go different ways to address future information stoppers. Among other things, they will embark on research into quantum computers. 

SDU RIO – TEK Innovation must have a big thank you for a great doing a great job in the application process.

For more information contact:
Professor Sergey Bozhevolnyi - Centre for Nano Optics
Institute of Technology and Innovation: Phone 2058 5128 / seib@iti.sdu.dk  

Short information on ERC Advanced Grant
Each year, ERC distributes a very limited number of grants to European researchers. The grant is given to successful directors of research institutes who have already proven seminal results. The grants will be used to promote risk research where researchers bring their research into new groundbreaking territory.