Lightmatters
The Mann lab

 

Research. What determines the properties of matter, like its color? Textbooks will tell you that these properties are due the interactions among and between electrons and phonons, and that photons play no role.

We are here to show that light in matter... matters. By structuring the material using nanophotonic engineering, light can play a dominant role in many material properties! This is well-known for the color: strong coupling between a material transition and an optical resonance results in a dramatically altered absorption spectrum. In the Lightmatters group we are extending this light-matter paradigm far beyond the color of a material. If you are interested, please see if there are vacancies available or reach out.

    
News                                                    (click for more news )

January 15th, 2026: We have just completed a lab move and renovation, and our laser system is currently being installed: we finally get to go from theory only to theory and experiment!

September 8th, 2025: Rein, Stéphanie, Wouter, and Vera join the group! Welcome to all, very exciting and good luck with your thesis projects. Meet them here!
   

Publications. Some recent papers from the group are:


To see a full list of publications, click here.

      
Team. Lightmatters is led by Dr. Sander Mann, assistant professor in physics at the van der Waals-Zeeman Institute at the University of Amsterdam. To meet all team members, click here!


Vacancies. We are enthusiastically looking for a PhD students to join the group for a project on metasurfaces for ultracold atoms, in collaboration with Klaasjan van Druten! Get in touch to learn more.


Contact
Email: s.mann at uva.nl
Twitter: sander_mann

Addressclick here.