Meet Carolyn Gunthardt

Advisor: Theodore Goodson III

Institution: University of Michigan

Bio: Dr. Carolyn Gunthardt is an IC Postdoctoral Fellow working at the University of Michigan studying entangled two-photon absorption. Carolyn received her B.S. in chemistry from the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University where she studied the photodissociation of small molecules, including ozone. She has won numerous awards such as the US Senator Phil Gramm Fellowship and the Dow Chemical Graduate Fellowship. Her current research involves sensing and imaging biomolecules using extremely low fluxes of entangled photons.

Abstract: Entangled two-photon absorption (ETPA) has the potential to be utilized in sensing, imaging, and novel spectroscopic techniques. In order to take full advantage of this potential, preliminary experiments must be performed to determine the structure function relationships involved in ETPA. Experiments probing organic molecules using both classical and entangled TPA have been performed and are key to understanding the similarities and differences between the two processes. The extent of ETPA in a molecule can be quantified using the ETPA cross section, which is determined via transmission based measurements. Experiments have also detected fluorescence from molecules excited via ETPA. A home built fluorescence scanning microscope utilizing entangled light has been developed and used to image thin films of organic samples.