CAREER: Manipulating near-field optical interactions for nanoscale chemical imaging

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In this CAREER award, funded by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Gordon from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his students will develop new scanning probe microscopy instruments which use vibrational spectroscopy below the diffraction limit to make chemical images of surfaces at spatial resolutions 10nm. These new tools will be used to spatially correlate the topography, electronic structure, mechanical properties, and chemical functionality of surfaces in a variety of experimental venues. The overarching theme of the work is to probe and better understand how local effects (i.e., shape, structure, phase separation, electronic interactions, and organization) influence chemical reactions and opto-electronic processes at interfaces. Given such correlative information, it will be possible to better engineer and exploit the unique physical and chemical behavior of nano- and meso-scaled material systems. Application areas include chemical imaging of nanoparticle catalysts, studying molecular transformations on surfaces during reaction, and probing optical and charge transfer processes in plastic solar cell materials.Graduate and undergraduate students will play a crucial role in all aspects of the project; they will conduct nanoscience research in a curiosity-driven, interdisciplinary, and collaborative setting. Professor Gordon will continue his efforts to involve undergraduates in research by offering internships during the academic year and summer through the Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE) program which provides research experiences to students from underrepresented groups and universities. Scholarly activities include the development of two "Spectroscopy of Materials" lecture/lab courses that introduce quantum mechanics/solid-state physics to engineering students and provide hands-on training with materials characterization equipment. Community-level efforts focus on the development of a "Crime Scene Investigation" lab where middle and high-school students use portable Raman spectrometers to investigate the structure of different materials using spectroscopy-based chemical analysis. Professor Gordon will also integrate research and education with the scientific community at large by developing web-based tutorials on various theoretical and experimental aspects of different spectroscopy methods.