MRI: Development of a Sub-diffraction Limited Microscope for Imaging Ultrafast Dynamics from the Visible to Mid-infrared Spectral Range

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This award is jointly supported by the Major Research Instrumentation, the Chemistry Research Instrumentation program, and the Chemical Measurement and Imaging program in the Division of Chemistry, and the Major Research Instrumentation in the Division of Materials Research. With this award, Professors Sean Roberts and Carlos Baiz at the University of Texas Austin and Professor James Batteas at Texas A&M University are developing a sub-diffraction Time-resolved Super-resolution Microscope (TSM). This instrument enables measurement of dynamics unfolding over femtosecond-to-millisecond timescales with spatial resolution approaching 10 nanometers. The super resolution approach can be used to view fast processes such as electron motion in semiconductor nanostructures or dynamic restructuring of biological membranes. The TSM is designed to achieve three demanding needs, sub-diffraction spatial resolution, femtosecond time resolution and spectral resolution, from the near-UV to mid-IR. This can critically enable key insights into the inner workings of biological systems and creation of new materials for energy conversion and quantum information science. The microscope construction provides training of student researchers who work with the faculty. After commissioning, the instrument is to be made available via its integration into the Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials (CDCM), a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) based at the University of Texas at Austin. The project provides graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who use the instrument in their research the opportunity to develop a background in both ultrafast science and super-resolution microscopy.The TSM is configured to employ laser pulses tunable from the near-UV to mid-IR to follow dynamics involving electronic, nuclear, and molecular motions. An integrated atomic force microscope (AFM) allows in situ mapping of sample topography and near-field tip enhancement of signals produced in the region beneath the tip. The research enabled with the microscope will be directed by the principal investigators at studies of electronic dynamics at junctions formed between low-dimensional semiconductors and structural fluctuations within heterogeneous soft matter such as lipid membranes and polymer blends. Other research directions to be explored with the new TSM instrument include energy and charge migration in solar energy materials, exciton dynamics in van der Waals heterostructures, energy and phonon conduction in thermoelectric and mid-IR photonic materials, ion migration in batteries and smart windows, biomolecule motion in cell membranes, nonequilibrium dynamics of photoactive polymers, and nanoscopic control of materials under intense electric fields.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.