[MOS] Tomorrow 12/12: Professor Renee Frontiera, Dept of Chemistry, University of MN; Seminar & Lunch: 12:00 - 2:00pm, 34-401

[Christine Brooks]

There will be a Modern Optics and Spectroscopy seminar tomorrow, Tuesday, December 12 at 12pm in 34-401 with Professor Renee Frontiera:

Professor Renee Frontiera
University of Minnesota

How the environment controls chemistry: Raman spectroscopic probes of the effects of nanoscale environments on chemical reaction dynamics

My research program is broadly interested in how local environments affect chemical reaction dynamics. We focus on highly heterogeneous systems such as cellular membranes or photocatalytic devices, developing and using new spectroscopic approaches to probe the dynamics on the relevant length scale. This talk will focus on two approaches to nanoscale Raman spectroscopies, techniques which are capable of monitoring chemical composition and dynamics on nanometer length scales. First, I will discuss the development and implementation of a new super-resolution Raman microscopy technique, which is capable of probing chemical composition on the 10 nm length scale. This all-optical, label-free technique should have numerous applications in imaging of soft and dynamic materials, including biological samples. The technique combines methods from super-resolution fluorescence microscopy with stimulated Raman microscopy. I’ll discuss our approach to achieving resolution well below the optical diffraction limit, implementation of this new technique, and approaches to reaching resolution on the nanometer length scale. Secondly, I’ll present how we use plasmonic nanomaterials, which interact strongly with light and confine it to nanometer length scales, to probe and drive new chemical reactions. We use surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy on ultrafast timescales to monitor plasmon-driven processes in real time. Currently we are investigating the use of these nanomaterials to provide highly energetic carriers and localized heating for photocatalysis.

Refreshments served immediately following the seminar

Christine Brooks
Administrative Assistant
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Chemistry
77 Massachusetts Ave, 6-333
Cambridge, MA 02139
p: 617.253.7239
e: cbrooks at mit.edu<mailto:cbrooks at mit.edu>
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