An Atomic Scale View of Light-Matter Interactions

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Speaker(s): Ernie Glover

Light-matter interactions are central to a wide range of scientific and technological disciplines. Though optical interactions have been important to advancing our understanding of atoms, molecules, and materials, the microscopic details of how light manipulates matter are often poorly understood. A material’s optical response is complex, determined by coupled manybody interactions that vary on an atomic length scale. While data is needed to combat this complexity, it has generally not been possible to probe the microscopic details of light-matter interactions.

We have recently demonstrated a novel x-ray scattering technique, x-ray and optical wave mixing, that directly probes the atomic scale details of how light manipulates electronic charge in a material. I will discuss how this x-ray scattering method provides information on the atomic scale optical response of a material and offer a few speculations on how this might help us better understand, and ultimately control, materials.

Colloquium

Junior and senior physics majors attend our biweekly colloquium series, held on Tuesday afternoons at 4:30 p.m. in Shanahan B460. The talks are open to all students and to the public, and are frequently attended by scientists from the other Claremont Colleges, Cal Poly Pomona, and others. The series features speakers from a broad range of institutions and fields of physics.