Alan Bristow is a NIST Associate and a Professor at West Virginia University. He is ultrafast laser spectroscopist, specializing in coherent light-matter interactions of nanoscale device and materials for potential in future devices. He works with semiconductors and metal heterostructures to understand the charge dynamics and electronic or excitonic coherence times, from which details of the microscopic electronic environment can be determined. He exploits optical technology to coherently control the electronic response of nanoscale devices and uses such methods to provide details information complementary to more conventional structural and electronic characterization methods of materials. Light-matter interactions provide insight into new physics at the nanoscale and are useful characterization tools for materials and structures that have potential for electronic, photonic, spintronic and energy-harvesting applications.
Current projects include multidimensional coherent spectroscopy of semiconductor microcavities, two-dimensional materials and novel quantum phases of matter.