S Dexter Squibb Distinguished Lecture Series in Chemistry

Theodore Goodson, professor of chemistry and macromolecular science and engineering from the University of Michigan, will be giving two public lectures in Alumni Hall of Highsmith Union, the first at 7:15 p.m. on February 26 and the second at 12 p.m. on February 27.

The first lecture in the series, “It’s in the Noise: Quantum Information Science,” will discuss the the potential impact of the suggested applications of quantum mechanical phenomena – from applications in materials for new energy sources, to new forms of computing for the discovery of answers to age old problems, to enhanced biomedical detection schemes for the early diagnosis of diseases – and look at the current state of the art of quantum methods, and the outlook of Quantum Information Science in our near-future.

The second lecture in the series, “Entangled Photon Interactions in Materials,” will discuss the use of non-classical fields of light to provide scientists with an enhanced tool set to study light-matter interactions. The use of quantum entanglement in spectroscopy may offer new opportunities for the understanding of physical chemical properties in organic and biological molecules. In this talk, the results of entangled photon spectroscopy and microscopy of biological macromolecules, cells, and tissue will be reported. These results have widespread impact in applications ranging from spectroscopy to chemical and biological sensing and protection, imaging and microscopy.

Theodore Goodson III is the Richard Barry Bernstein Collegiate Professor of Chemistry and Macromolecular Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan. Goodson’s research centers on the investigation of ultra-fast, nonlinear and quantum optical properties in organic multi-chromophore and metal cluster systems for particular optical and electronic applications in the condensed phase. His lab utilizes entangled photons to do both spectroscopy and microscopy and has been leading this field into new and promising directions.