Education

B.S. Chemistry, University of the Philippines - Diliman
M.S. Chemistry, University of the Philippines - Diliman
Ph.D.Candidate(Current), Department of Chemistry - University of Utah

Awards

SPIE Educational Scholarship in Optical Science and Engineering - 2007
DOW Chemical First Year Scholarship - 2006

Interests

My research interest is on the photophysical studies of nanoscale optically active species such as nanocrystal quantum dots in the presence of specifically designed nanophotonic environments (microcavities, photonic crystals, etc.). Gaining detailed insight into how spontaneous emission is affected in such nanophotonic environments will be crucial in offering new perspectives for their applications in next-generation optoelectronic devices.  Fabrication efforts such as size tailoring of the colloidal nanocrystals are being done hand-in-hand with in-depth characterization and spectroscopy measurements of the optical and structural properties of these materials. Optimization of the measurement methods are also being done until the single-chromophore level is reached which is the ultimate goal of the research as this can provide more detailed insights into not only the optical properties of individual nanocrystals but – more importantly – also the coupling behavior of nanoemitter and nanophotonic environment.

Besides these nanoemitter/nanophotonic environment coupling studies I also focus on developing strategies to manipulate and fine-tune the size of beforehand synthesized colloidal quantum dots. The goal here is to a) gain insights into the growth process, stability, and surface phenomena of colloidal nanocrystals and b) develop methods that allow precisely tuning the size-dependent electrical and optical properties of quantum dots.