Debye Annual Lecture

dr. P. James Chuck
Debye Annual Lecture speaker of 2025

Jim Schuck is an associate professor in mechanical engineering at Columbia University.  He earned his B.A. in Physics at UC Berkeley and his Ph.D. in Applied Physics at Yale University.  Jim then did his postdoctoral studies with Prof. W. E. Moerner at Stanford University, studying optical nanoantennas and single-molecule spectroscopy.  His group aims to characterize, understand, and control nanoscale light-matter interactions, with a primary focus on sensing, engineering and exploiting novel optoelectronic phenomena emerging from nanostructures and interfaces.  Current research interests include the investigation and applications of 2D materials and upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) for nano- and quantum-photonics.

P. James Schuck is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University.  He earned his B.A. in Physics at UC Berkeley and his Ph.D. in Applied Physics at Yale University.  Jim then did his postdoctoral studies with Prof. W. E. Moerner at Stanford University, studying optical nanoantennas and single-molecule spectroscopy.

Lecture title: Harnessing the power of (photon) avalanches

Abstract: This talk focuses on the development of photon avalanching (PA) in various upconverting nanoparticle systems. Extraordinary properties and applications have already been demonstrated in these materials, with progress accelerated by combining recent advances in lanthanide-based nanomaterials synthesis, the modeling of optical properties and energy transfer, and new characterization methods. Here, I highlight the recent demonstration of piconewton to micronewton force sensing with these next-generation nanocrystals as well as their use in applications spanning superresolution imaging, photoswitching, and optical patterning and memory. I will then finish with a discussion of recent studies on variability, bistability, and the potential to harness internal variations for the power of good.

Program

Previous Annual Lecture speakers:

• 2024: Prof. Dr. M. Bonn (director department of Molecular Spectroscopy, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz): Water and Graphene: a Quaint Quantum Couple.

• 2023: Prof. Dr. Philipp Adelhelm Na-Ion Batteries: Energy Storage Based on Abundant Elements

• 2022: Prof. Hans-Jurgen Butt (Experimental Physics of Interfaces group at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research): Electrostatic charging: the source of the missing force on moving drops

• 2021: No Debye Annual Lecture due to the Covid-19 pandemic

• 2020: No Debye Annual Lecture due to the Covid-19 pandemic
• 2019: The Debye Institute celebrated its 30th anniversary with a scientific symposium. 
• 2018: Prof. Monika Ritsch-Marte (Department for Physiology and Medical Physics, Innsbruck Medical University): Synthetic Holography Trapping and Imaging: The Importance of Shaping Your Wavefront
• 2017: Prof. Ben L. Feringa (Stratingh Institute for Chemistry, Center for Systems Chemistry & Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, the Netherlands, Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2016): The art of building small
• 2016: Prof. Luis M. Liz-Marzán (Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials, CIC biomaGUNE, Spain): Composite plasmonic nanomaterials for biosensing and catalysis
• 2015: Prof. Ulrike Diebold (Institute of Applied Physics, Vienna University of Technology, Austria): Surface science studies of an iron oxide model catalyst
• 2014 Jubilee Lecture: Prof. Hans-Joachim Freund (Department of Chemical Physics, Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Germany): Models for heterogeneous catalysts: complex materials at the atomic level
• 2014 Jubilee Lecture: Prof. Jan Vermant (Department of Materials, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zürich, Switzerland / KU Leuven): Colloids at interfaces: how the rules of the game change…
• 2014 Jubilee Lecture: Prof. Romain Quidant (Institute of Photonic Sciences, Spain): Shining a (bright) light on the very small
• 2013: Prof. Martien A. Cohen Stuart (Physical Chemistry and Soft Matter Chair Group, Wageningen University, the Netherlands): Biomimetic materials: from modelatine to viromimic
• 2012: Prof. Ib Chorkendorff (Danish National Research Foundation Center for Individual Nanoparticle Functionality, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark): Heterogeneous catalysis: a part of the solution for future energy conversion