Laura Liu

Laura Na Liu (born 1979) is a Chinese physicist focused on researching nano-optics of three-dimensional meta materials as it applies to biology and chemistry. After receiving her undergraduate and master's degree in China, she has had many global opportunities for education and research including Germany and the United States of America. Today, she is a professor at University of Heidelberg in Germany. She has received several awards for her contributions in the field of optics.

Biography

Liu has completed her higher education all over the world. As a young woman, Liu completed her studies in Beijing and Hong Kong before she moved to Germany and earned a doctorate degree in physics at University of Stuttgart in 2009. In order to succeed, she shad to overcome the culture shock between the two countries' lifestyles. A year later she became a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2011, she transitioned again to Rice University to be a Texas Instrument Visiting Professor. The following year, Liu joined the Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and led the "Small Nanoplasmonics" research group. Since 2015, Liu moved back to Germany and is a professor at University of Heidelberg. Liu has also been married since receiving her degrees in China.

Scientific contributions

Only being a PhD candidate before 2009, she published 11 papers before receiving her degree.

Through Liu's research efforts, she has become a leading scientist in optics as it pertains to DNA and catalytic chemistry. Much of the research she conducts is on the nano (less than 3 nm) level. Liu designs and studies 3D meta-materials which are classified as smaller than visible light's wavelength. These can play an important role to understand small scale biological structures and even metal interactions. In addition, she was involved in designing an absorber device for optical sensing, even through metal interference.

Awards

By incorporating chemistry and biology into nano-photonics, Liu has advanced the multidisciplinary collaboration and research within this field.

She has gained much recognition for her hard work within the field at such a young age. Over the years, Liu has received many awards including:

• 2020 OSA Fellow  
• 2020 Max Planck Fellow    
• 2019 Highly Cited Researcher (Web of Science)
• 2019 EU-40 Materials Prize (E-MRS)
• 2019 The Nano Letters Young Investigator Lectureship Award (ACS)
• 2019 Fellow of the Max Planck School Matter to Life
• 2019 Adolph Lomb Medal (OSA)
• 2019 Rising Researcher Award (SPIE)
• 2018 Annual Research Prize of University of Heidelberg
• 2018 Rudolf-Kaiser Prize
• 2018 Highly Cited Researcher (Web of Science)
• 2018 The Kavli Foundation Early Career Award in Materials Science (MRS)
• 2018 The IUMRS – MRS Singapore Young Researcher Award Finalist
• 2016 IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Optics from the International Commission for Optics (ICO)
• 2015 Light2015 Young Woman in Photonics Award of the European Optical Society (EOS)
• 2014 European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant Award
• 2014 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize of the German Research Foundation (DFG)
• 2013 Elisabeth Schiemann-Kolleg of the Max Planck Society (MPG)
• 2012 Marie Curie CIG Fellowship
• 2012 Sofja Kovalevskaja Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH)
• 2011 Nanowissenschaftspreis AGENT-D
• 2010 Hertha-Sponer Prize of the German Physical Society (DPG)
• 2010 Dissertationspreis der Freunde der Universität Stuttgart
• 2008 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad

Editorial activities

• Editorial Advisory Board, Nano Letters (ACS)
• Editorial Advisory Board, ACS Photonics (ACS)
• Editorial Advisory Board, JPhys Photonics (IOPscience)

Academic training and employment

• Professor, Kirchhoff Institute of Physics, University of Heidelberg, Germany
• Group Leader, The Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Germany
• Visiting Professor, Rice University, USA
• Postdoc, University of California, Berkeley, USA
• Ph. D., Physics, University of Stuttgart, Germany
• M.S., Physics, The Hongkong University of Science and Technology, Hongkong
• B.S. Physics, Jilin University, China

Selected Publications

Since her work as a PhD candidate, she has published numerous papers. A few of her most cited articles as noted by Web of Science as of February 10, 2020 are listed below:

• Liu, N., Mesch, M., Weiss, T., Hentschel, M., & Giessen, H. (2010). "Infrared Perfect Absorber and Its Application as Plasmonic Sensor" Nano Letters, 10(7), 2342–2348. doi.10.1021/NL9041033
• Liu, N., Langguth, L., Weiss, T., Kästel, J., Fleischhauer, M., Pfau, T., & Giessen, H. (2009). "Plasmonic analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency at the Drude damping limit" Nature Materials, 8(9), 758–762.doi.org/10.1021/NL9041033
• Liu, N., Mesch, M., Weiss, T., Hentschel, M., Giessen, H. (2010) "Planar Metamaterial Analogue of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency for Plasmonic Sensing" Nano Letters, 10(4),1103-1107 doi.10.1021/NL902621D
• Liu, N., Tan, M., Hentshcel, M., Giessen, H., Alivisatos, A. (2011) "Nanoantenna-enhanced gas sensing in a single tailored nanofocus" Nature Materials 10, 631–636 doi. 10.1038/NMAT3029
• Liu, N., Guo, H., Fu, L., Kaiser, S., Schweizer, H., Giessen, H. (2008) "Three-dimensional photonic metamaterials at optical frequencies" Nature Materials, 7, 31-37 doi 10.1038/NMAT2072