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Edwin J. Heilweil (Fed)
Dr. Heilweil is a Research Chemist in the Nanoscale Spectroscopy Group of the Nanoscale Device Characterization Division in the Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML) at NIST. His current research involves ultrafast Far-infrared spectroscopy (Terahertz or THz) of advanced semiconductors, including wide and ultrawide bandgap materials. These fully non-contact measurement methods extract precision dielectric properties (complex refractive index) and carrier dynamics, conductivity, mobility, and temperature-dependent THz spectra.
Dr. Heilweil was the chair of the International Advisory Committee for the Time-Resolved Vibrational Spectroscopy Conference (TRVS) from 2012 to 2023 and was the conference co-chair in 2005. Dr. Heilweil was chair of the "Molecular Dynamics and Vibrational Spectroscopy" Gordon Conferences in 2000 and 2002 and a Physical Chemistry Division Alternate Councilor (2003-2006). He is a member of the American Chemical Society (since 1978), Coblentz Society (since 2003), Sigma Xi (since 1985), Washington Academy of Science (since 2022), and became a Fellow of the Optical Society of America in 2008. He also served as an editorial advisory board member of the ACS Journal of Physical Chemistry from 2006 - 2012.
After receiving his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983, Heilweil began his career at NBS/NIST as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in 1983. He has received several awards, including the Instrument Society of America Beckman Award (1989), the Department of Commerce Stratton Award (1991), and the Sigma Xi Young Scientist Award (1992). In 2008, he received the NIST/Department of Commerce Silver Medal for "Contributions to Ultrafast Optical Studies of Vibrational Energy Transfer and Terahertz Spectroscopy" and in 2018, the NIST/DoC Bronze Medal for work on Ultrafast Pulsed Laser Safety Eyewear. Dr. Heilweil received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the TRVS community in 2017, for which a Special Issue in the journal Chemical Physics was issued on his behalf in 2018, and the Distinguished Career in Physical Chemistry Award from the Washington Academy of Science in 2022. Heilweil has co-authored 173 technical papers and delivered 156 invited talks worldwide.
United States Patents:
Edwin J. Heilweil: US Patent #4,980,566 awarded on December 25, 1990 for an “Ultrashort Pulsed Infrared Broadband Spectrometer.”
Leonid A. Bendersky, Edwin J. Heilweil, and Zhuopeng Tan: US Patent #9,061,907 awarded on June 23, 2015, for “Two-Component Structures Providing Fast Low-Temperature Charging of Magnesium with Hydrogen” where a Fe:Mg composite alloy for high-density hydrogen storage was invented.