Kenneth Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor, Chemistry
Office: NSM C-315
Phone: (310) 243-2882
Teaching Assignments
Che 102 at Carson High School
Chem 21A at El Camino College
Research Interests
Sampling materials on the nano-scale (with
the least amount of material, good signal-to-noise in order to obtain important
structural information) is a continuous venture that has lead to novel
devices. A research program has
been developed that uses the unique optical transmission properties of metallic
microarray meshes with subwavelength holes to study and understand several
interesting chemical problems. This
phenomenon, involves transmitting more light than
that incident on the holes. This work
primarily involves working in the mid-infrared region of the electro-magnetic
spectrum which leads to vibrational and orientation information. Light incident upon the metal excites
the conducting electrons at the metal surface as surface plasmon (SP) polaritons.
They can: propagate along the metal until a hole is reached, tunnel
through the hole, and reemerge as light again. Three types of enhancements have been
attributed to enhanced IR absorption.
The 1st type is simply being on metal which when absorbed
molecules are oriented on a metal surface there are metal surface selection
rules that can enhance or cancel the molecular vibration of interest. The enhancement factor for being on
metal is 100-300 in absorption. The
2nd type is a pathlength effect of 8 µm
(16 µm by both the front and back
of the mesh) along the metal just as in Beer’s Law (A=εbc)
given an enhancement factor of 100-1000 in absorption. Finally, the 3rd type is due
to the interaction of a surface plasmon with excited molecular vibrations,
which is similar in the shift as observed in Stark Effect experiments with an
applied electric field of 1 MV/cm.
The enhancement factor for the interaction of a SP with a molecular
vibration is about 30-100 in absorption.
The infrared extraordinary transmission of metallic microarrays (which
involves transmitting more light than that incident on the holes) is used to
investigate self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), bilayer
lipid membranes, catalytic reactions, thin films of nanocoatings, and the
interaction of a molecular vibration with a surface plasmon resonance.
Office Hours:
· "Soon
to be announced" Room and time
e-mail:
krodriguez@csudh.edu
send mail
Teaching Schedule:
·
CHE 102 MW 10:00-11:15AM, NSM C-221
·
CHE 102 TTh
1:00-3:50PM, At
·
CHE 102 MWF 1:00-3:50PM, At
