Professor Joanna Atkin of the University of North Carolina

Dr. Joanna Atkin of the University of North Carolina will present: 

"Near-field optical spectroscopy for nanoscale materials characterization"

Conventional far-field optical spectroscopic techniques can provide valuable information about structural, electronic, and temporal properties of materials. However, they are also subject to the diffraction limit of light, which leads to significant averaging and poor spatial resolution. Near-field optical techniques, in contrast, can break the diffraction limit to provide nanometer scale information and access to novel excitations. I will discuss two applications of a tailored near-field. The first is the use of infrared near-field optical spectroscopy for non-destructive, in operando chemical, structural, and electronic imaging of semiconducting materials, with the aim of understanding how their local properties affect functionality for optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices. The second application involves exploiting near-field interactions to perform single-molecule structural characterization of biological systems through their vibrational modes.