Welcome! We are the research group of Jen Dionne, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. We are a diverse team of materials scientists, chemists, applied physicists, electrical engineers, chemical engineers, and mechanical engineers.
Through the design of new optical materials and microscopies, we observe chemical and biological processes as they unfold with nanometer scale resolution. We then use these observations to improve energy-relevant processes (such as photocatalysis and energy storage) and medical diagnostics and therapeutics.
Please feel free to navigate this site or contact us for more information!
What is a typical day like for a researcher in our group? Check out our videos to learn more about our science and our culture. If you like what you see and want to join our team, please send us your resume. We're always on the lookout for smart, creative people.
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| Group Video, June 2015 | Russian River Canoe Trip, July 2014 |
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| Upconversion | Nanoscale optical tomography |
Latest News
July 7-13: Amr, David, Fariah, Katherine, Loza, Mark, Michal and Shing Shing attend and present at the Gordon Research Seminar on Plasmonics and Nanophotonics held in Newry, ME and attend the Conference held immediately following! Jen serves as Vice-Chair of the Conference and will Chair the next meeting in two years!
June 29: The DOE announces a new Energy Frontier Research Center, Photonics at Thermodynamic Limits (PTL). Press Release The Center will be based at Stanford with Jen serving as Director! Article
June 23-29: Alice attends and presents at the Gordon Research Seminar on Bioanalytical Sensors held in Newport, RI and attends the Conference held immediately following!
June 21: Congratulations to Alice on her paper, “Bright, Mechanosensitive Upconversion with Cubic-Phase Heteroepitaxial Core–Shell Nanoparticles,” now published in Nano Letters! Article
June 16 : Katherine is awarded a Centennial Teaching Assistant Award for being an outstanding TA in undergraduate physics courses!
May 24 : Jen gives an invited seminar talk at UC Irvine's Chemistry Department. Thank you Ara Apkarian and Venkat Bommisetty for the invitation!
May 17 : Fariah is awarded a DARE (Diversifying Academia, Recruiting Excellence)fellowship!
May 2: Congratulations to Fariah on her paper, "In-situ visualization of solute-driven phase coexistence within individual nanorods" published in Nature Communications! Article
March 28: Congratulations to Michael on his paper, "Improving Quantum Yield of Upconverting Nanoparticles in Aqueous Media via Emission Sensitization" published in Nano Letters! Article
March 9: Congratulations to Michal, Michelle, David and Mark on the publication of "Roadmap on Plasmonics,“ in the Journal of Optics! Article
Featured Research
I. Bright, Mechanosensitive Upconversion:
Alice and co-authors utilize a core-shell geometry to improve upconversion quantum yields of cubic-phase NaYF4:Yb,Er nanoparticles by nearly 20X. Exploring different shell materials, they find that strain at the core-shell interface tunes the color response of these nanoparticles to mechanical stress. Brighter, mechanosensitive upconversion promises improved imaging and sensing capabilities. This work is now published in Nano Letters!
II. Improving Upconversion Quantum Yields:
Michael and co-authors demonstrate a facile method to improve upconversion quantum yields in Yb,ER-based nanoparticles via emission dye-sensitization. The approach detailed in this work is widely implementable, renders the nanoparticles water-soluble and, most significantly, improves sub-15 nm nanoparticles, making the method attractive for biological imaging applications. The work is now published in Nano Letters!
III. Nonreciprocal metasurfaces:
Mark and co-authors have designed an ultra-thin, Si-based optical metasurface for nonreciprocal free-space optics. Owing to the high-quality-factor resonances of the metasurface and the inherent Kerr nonlinearities of Si, this structure acts as an optical diode for free-space optical signals. The concept is also generalizable to other metasurface functions, providing a foundation for one-way lensing and holography. The work is now published in Nano Letters!
