Timur Shegai is an Assistant Professor at the Division of Bionanophotonics, Department of Applied Physics. He was born in an academic family in 1982 in the southwestern part of Siberia, Novosibirsk, Russia. The academic atmosphere of his hometown, also known as the “Akademgorodok” or Academic Town, facilitated with various universities, institutes and highly specialized schools in physics, mathematics and chemistry initiated his urge in pursuing an academic career.
Timur is amazed by the tremendous effect a “good” teacher can have on students and their career choices later on during life. “My physics teachers back at high school, Irina Grigorievna Ahmetiyanova and Pavel Ivanovich Zubkov, were the ones who influenced me deeply on my passion for physics and wanting to understand more”, he acknowledges humbly.
After finishing his Master in Physical Chemistry in Novosibirsk State University in 2003, he moved to Israel. There he continued his education as a PhD student in Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, where he was mainly working with single-molecule spectroscopy.
A place to focus on science
During a conference in Tokyo in 2006, Timur became familiar with Professor Mikael Käll, one of the pioneer scientists in Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) field.
“The pleasure of working with Prof. Mikael Käll as well the possibility to use MC2 cleanroom, were the main reasons for me to move to Gothenburg.” Timur started at Chalmers University of Technology as a postdoctoral researcher in the Bionanophotonics Division in 2009 and has been awarded assistant professorship since 2013.
“Here at Chalmers, you have the possibility to do the type of science you want. Access to both expert theorists and experimentalists as well as the cleanroom facilities, provide me a great environment to focus on science.”
Having two young children together with his academic career does not leave him much of free time. However he enjoys fishing, volleyball and walking when there is a leisure window in his busy life.
“I enjoy the nature of Sweden including lakes, woods and the peaceful atmosphere of Gothenburg. Although as a Russian, I sometimes miss really cold and snowy winters”, Timur says with a smile.
Bigger than a job!
“This is much bigger than a job for me. I’m constantly thinking about different projects, new ideas, students and how to tackle different problems in the lab. These all-together build up a positive stress for me to wake up every morning and know there are lots of things I can do in science”, Timur explains enthusiastically.
Exploring new concepts or discovering the unknown is not always that easy though, as Timur describes. “Sure I get frustrated when things do not work out. But I know I can manage it. I try to step back and start again from a solid ground that I know I understand well and then take small steps towards solving the problem.”
Light-matter interaction at Nano scale
Timur studies the interaction between light and matter specifically gold or silver nanoparticles. When metallic structures are downsized to subwavelength range, they can manifest unique properties when illuminated by light.
“These particles can efficiently trap the visible light and store its energy for very short period of time (femtoseconds) in the form of oscillations of conductive electrons at their surface. Therefore these particles can be viewed as cavities, at subwavelength level, which can enhance light-matter interactions. When a material of interest (be that a molecule, a quantum dot or an organic nanocrystal) is placed in the vicinity of these cavities, the local electric field is enhanced significantly.”
The other interesting concept that arises from the light-matter interaction is the strong coupling between light in the form of the collective oscillation, so-called Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR), and the electronic excitations in the surrounding environment.
"This coupling involves exchange of energy between the Plasmon and the matter. I’m interested in this transfer of energy, the strength of it and how matter can affect the optical properties of the cavity in return”, Timur explains.
So far the studies regarding light-matter and specifically plasmon-exciton interaction have usually neglected the effect of matter on plasmons in the weak regime. “The case is different now”, explains Timur. “When resonant excitations in the surrounding medium is strong enough, it may induce a back action on the plasmonic cavity. This gives us the opportunity to study how the matter such as dye aggregates, quantum dots or perhaps even single molecules of extremely small size can actually affect light”, he adds.
“The unique properties of this interaction, i.e. the ultra fast pace and the strong light-matter coupling, offers the fastest process known so far for manipulation of light at extremely fast speed.”
Do what you like
Timur’s days are full of joy. Being loaded with various projects, meetings, lab work, supervision, teaching as well as writing applications, he does not mind it at all.
“You might sometimes end up trapped in situations of being obliged to do things despite your interest. The most important thing is to find a way out and discover what you really enjoy doing, and stick to it despite the circumstances.” This is a piece of advice from Timur, as he humbly explains his success factor merely being interest in what he does.
Physicist or electrician
“As a physicist, when I’m asked what I work with by a non-specialist, I answer Nanotechnology. This field seems to be known and accepted by the society in general, even if not really well understood”, Timur describes with a smile.
“Sometimes I find myself in strange situations where people expect me to fix their broken TV, their malfunctioning fridge or an electric shout down in our building. They emphasize I should be able to do it if I know physics. Maybe I should after all”, Timur explains sarcastically.
Break-through needed
Having been around for more than 30 years, Nanoplasmonic has already offered a lot to the scientific community including label free sensing and SERS. Stable sensing devices, available at low prices aimed for diagnostics at room temperature is one of the promises of the field towards improved health care as well as better and faster diagnostics.
“For Nanoplasmonics to continue, I think the challenge lies in finding major and fundamental break through technique that competes with other existing technologies in applied science”, Timur describes as the future challenge for his Nanoplasmonics family.
Timur adds, “Nanoplasmonics can definitely be used as a toolbox in order to enhance the near field dramatically in various concepts. Thus it can be adapted to other fields, materials and structures aimed to function in different spectral ranges.”
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