CaSTL Seminar by Renee R. Frontiera

This talk will focus on two approaches to nanoscale Raman microscopy, techniques which are capable of monitoring chemical composition and dynamics on nanometer length scales. First, I’ll discuss our use of ultrafast surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy as a means of driving and probing plasmon-driven photocatalysis. By monitoring molecular plasmonic dynamics on ultrafast timescales, we are able to probe the role of field enhancements and hot electron transfer in driving photochemical reactions.  Secondly, I will discuss the development and implementation of a new super-resolution Raman microscopy technique, which is capable of probing chemical composition on sub-diffraction length scales. This all-optical, label-free technique should have numerous applications in imaging of soft and dynamic materials, including biological samples. The technique combines methods from super-resolution fluorescence microscopy with stimulated Raman microscopy. I’ll discuss our approach to achieving resolution well below the optical diffraction limit, implementation of this new technique, and approaches to reaching resolution on the nanometer length scale.

Biography:

Renee R. Frontiera is an assistant professor of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota. Her research group uses Raman spectroscopic techniques to examine chemical composition and chemical reaction dynamics on nanometer length scales. She received her Ph. D. in 2009 from the University of California – Berkeley, under the advisement of Richard A. Mathies. Her postdoctoral research at Northwestern University was under the supervision of Richard P. Van Duyne. Her research group at the University of Minnesota was founded in 2013, and she is the recent recipient of an NSF CAREER award.