Education

Ph.D. Candidate (Current)
Department of Chemistry - University of Utah – Salt Lake City, Utah

B.S. Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics – Magna Cum Laude (2004)
Sam Houston State University – Huntsville, Texas

Awards

• Dow Chemical First Year Scholarship – Utah (2006)
• Cal Giddings Fellowship – Utah (2005-2006)
• Robert A. Welch Research Fellowship – SHSU (2003)

Interests

Originally from Colorado, I ended up finishing secondary school in Texas. Due to the heat, I immediately enlisted in the Army and headed off to Europe and a far more reasonable climate. In the army I was mostly involved with telecommunications systems as well as some intermittent forays into computing (hardware/software). I continued doing IT work after leaving the army, spending a couple of years working for MCI and various other network providers. After the dot-com meltdown, I rethought my career path and decided to head to school full time, ultimately pursuing a degree in Chemistry with a minor Mathematics.

My overall research interests are diverse, ranging from nanoscale materials to the study of non-classical optical phenomena. My current research project involves the synthesis and characterization of novel photonic band gap materials and seeks to answer fundamental questions regarding the effects of specifically designed nanophotonic environments on the spontaneous emission properties of light.

Personal Research

My overall research interests are diverse, ranging from nanoscale materials to the study of non-classical optical phenomena. My current research project involves the theoretical design and experimental realization of novel photonic band gap materials and seeks to answer fundamental questions regarding the specifically designed nanophotonic environments on the spontaneous emission of light.

The fabrication of nanophotonic architectures with photonic properties in the visible is limited by a number of factors. Due to the length scales involved, fabrication techniques are generally limited to colloidal self-assembled systems, combined with some infiltration technique (to include CVD or sol-gel, with each having advantages and disadvantages). The inverse opal structure has been both theoretically and experimentally shown to have a full photonic band gap between the 8th and 9th bands provided that the contrast in refractive index is high enough (> 2.85). For the visible, this requirement becomes the limiting factor as the only suitable choice for dielectric materials that is both optically transparent and having a moderately high enough refractive index is titania (TiO2).

Therefore it becomes important to explore new routes for circumventing these limitations. It has been shown that spherical building blocks are not optimal in achieving this end. In fact, by lowering the local symmetry in these systems, significant enhancements of the photonic properties are easily attained. For example, by introducing a two “atom” basis instead of the usual one “atom” basis (which is what the colloidal systems have), we arrive at the diamond structure – the most optimal system available in photonic systems. While this system is great in theory, it has proven extremely difficult to fabricate due to the non-closed packed arrangement, leading to structural instabilities. A number of strategies have been proposed to approximate this system or to capitalize on the unique structural differences. Talking about the unique structural differences, the big point is the lifting of the degeneracy in the well known problem direction “W”. By applying a small deformation along the growth axis (111), it has been shown theoretically that significant enhancements can occur. Our group is interested in both theoretically predicting and experimentally realizing such symmetry lowered structures – specifically with the aim to design and “engineer” systems with the desired photonic properties.

Bio-photonics

A second strategy is to gain further insight into the “engineered” systems that Nature has already provided. For example, there exists a wide variety of insects whose brilliantly colored appearance arises not from any type of pigment, but instead from structure alone. For example, a particular system that we are currently studying, Lamprocyphus Augustus, a weevil from South America, exhibits a beautiful green iridescence, which upon closer examination comes from individual scales located on the exoskeleton. These scales, when the internal structure is exposed, reveals an interesting 3-d periodic arrangement of chitin and air – a photonic crystal. Exactly as in the synthetic opal systems, bragg diffraction from the crystal planes in these structures gives rise to the color observed. Of particular interest is the so-called “building blocks” in this structure. Here we observe that rather than the very limiting spherical blocks we have available using conventional fabrication techniques, instead we see a system of chitin rods and holes, with clearly defined hexagonal and cubic faces. This particular system at a first approximation has been observed in a number of different. A thorough understanding of this system, we hope will lead to fundamental insights that will lead to new fabrication strategies that allow us to leap forward towards the realization of a robust photonic band gap in the visible. The realization of such a structure has the potential to completely revolutionize the information technology field as all-optical components replace their electronic counterparts.

PUBLICATIONS

J.W. Galusha, L.R. Richey, J.S. Gardner, M.H. Bartl, “Discovery of a diamond-based photonic crystal structure in beetle scales”, Phys. Rev. E, 75, 050904(R) (2008).

 

J.W. Galusha, C. Tsung, G.B. Stucky, M.H. Bartl, “Optimizing sol-gel infiltration and processing methods for the fabrication of high-quality planar titania inverse opals", accepted (2008).

 

J. W. Galusha, K. Carter, M. H. Bartl "3-D photonic band structure engineering in self-assembled photonic crystals" Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., 0988-QQ05-08 (2006).

 

B. Zhang, J.W. Galusha, P.G. Shiozawa, G. Wang, A.J. Bergren, R.M. Jones, R.J. White, E.N. Ervin, C.C. Cauley*, H.S. White, “A bench-top method of fabricating glass-sealed nanodisk electrodes, glass nanopore electrodes, and glass nanopore membranes of controlled size,” Anal. Chem, 79, 4778-4787 (2007).