Garth Simpson

Professor Garth Simpson’s research group explores new and remarkable interactions between light and matter that arise in sufficiently intense optical fields, including the generation of new frequencies of light and the simultaneous absorption of multiple photons. At the core, the research is devoted to the theoretical development and experimental application of new instrumental methods taking advantage of unique nonlinear optical interactions. Recent interests include detection and analysis of crystals formed from chiral molecules, building on a long-standing interest in understanding the role of chirality and polarization-dependent effects in nonlinear optics.

REU students participating in research in the Simpson group will build instrumentation and develop protocols for the analysis of pharmaceutical materials using ultrafast optical laser sources. Graduate student mentors will include Paul Schmitt and Zhengtian Song (fourth and second year Chemistry graduate students, respectively), in combination with weekly individual meetings with Garth Simpson.