Michael Zuerch in front of vacuum chamber.

Research Bio

Michael W. Zuerch is a physical chemist whose research investigates ultrafast spectroscopy, quantum materials, and nanoscale dynamics. He is best known for developing X-ray and optical techniques to study electronic and structural dynamics in real time, revealing how materials respond to light and extreme conditions. Zuerch’s lab integrates ultrafast optics, nanoscience, and materials physics to probe quantum phenomena and guide the design of next-generation materials for energy and information technologies. His scholarship advances the frontiers of ultrafast science and condensed matter physics.

He is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley and Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Zuerch has received numerous awards, including the Bessel Prize (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation), the Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the Fresnel Prize (European Physical Society) and DOE Early Career funding. At Berkeley, he leads a lab in attosecond science and quantum materials research.

Research Expertise and Interest

collective phenomena in material, chemical material dynamics in surfaces and interfaces, symmetry-broken states and their emergence in condensed-phase systems, dynamical properties in artificial and correlated superlattices, ultrafast spectroscopy from THz to X-rays

In the News

Berkeley researchers demonstrate new technique for surface-sensitive second harmonic generation utilizing non-linear optics with a table-top laser

Interfaces and surfaces are of central importance to many open scientific questions. For example, in order to design more energy-efficient all solid-state batteries to fuel next-generation electric cars, we need to better understand the charge transfer processes through the battery’s individual layers. Also, devising solutions for climate change requires an enhanced knowledge of pollutant uptake at the air-liquid interface of clouds. Scientific questions like these, that address the nature of chemical interfaces and surfaces, are notoriously challenging to address because of the difficulty in studying systems with boundary specificity. An international effort led by UC Berkeley Assistant Professor of Chemistry Michael Zuerch has demonstrated a novel experimental method to address questions like these utilizing nonlinear optics as discussed in a recent article published today in Science Advances(link is external).
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