Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Organic and Hybrid Optoelectronic Materials

Over the course of the PhD, Ben will use with experience with high intensity IR lasers to develop new tools in the spectroscopy of Organic and Hybrid optoelectronic materials. He will develop new light source for spectroscopy experiments that is based on ultrafast pulses propagating through coherent laser induced plasma. This sources will be used for generating intense and short optical pulses with bandwidths spanning the terahertz and visible regions. The developed light source will then be used to excite, and subsequently probe, optoelectronic materials in spectroscopic experiments to reveal new information about the dynamics of the excited states. Ben will apply the developed source for IR and THz spectroscopy of plastic materials including hybrid lead-halide perovskites and organic macromolecules including new types of conjugated polymers and so-called non-fullerene electron acceptors. The technique will be further empowered by the use of multiple excitation pulses and spectral interferometry. The results obtained in ultrafast experiments will be instrumental for electronic device development, particularly solar cells and light emitting diodes.