Alan Bristow

Biography

Prof. Bristow received his Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield in 2004. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto from 2003 to 2006, a Research Associate at JILA from 2006 to 2010, and an Adjunct Instructor at the Colorado School of Mines in 2009. He joined West Virginia University in 2010 and served as the Associate Chair from 2019 to 2021.

Prof. Bristow was on sabbatical at the Technical University of Dortmund in 2017 and 2018. He has been an Associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 2017 and an Associate Editor for Optical Materials Express since 2018. He is a member of Optica (formerly OSA) and the American Physical Society. 

Prof. Bristow is a member of the ECAS Climate Group and is active in community engagement around the issues of climate change policy and research. For example, see his op-ed on the 2021 COP26 meeting being a call for local action.

Courses

Prof. Bristow has taught the following courses:

• PHYS 112 – University Physics II (with calculus)
• PHYS 211 – Introduction to Mathematical Physics
• PHYS 321 – Optics
• PHYS 333/334 – Electricity & Magnetism I/II
• PHYS 479/779 – UG/Grad Laboratory Research (in the Ultrafast Nanophotonics Group)
• PHYS 771 – Introduction to Solid State Physics
• PHYS 772 – Semiconductor Physics
• PHYS 774 – Optical Properties of Solids
• PHYS 791 (Special Topics) – Laser Physics and Quantum Optics

In addition to teaching lecture courses, Prof. Bristow mentors undergraduate and graduate students in research activities. He has graduated Ph.D. students whom have gone on to be postdoctoral researchers at top-tier research schools, visiting professors at liberal arts colleges, and employees in industrial and government lab positions.

Research

Prof. Bristow leads the Ultrafast Nanophotonics Group, using short laser pulses to determine coherent and dynamic properties of charge and spin carriers in condensed matter. Light-matter interactions provide insight into new physics at the nanoscale and prove to be useful tools for characterizing materials with potential for applications in electronics, photonics , and spintronics. A growth area is in solar-energy harvesting for electricity and chemical catalysis. This work is currently funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Book(s)

• “Noble and Precious Metals: Properties, Nanoscale Effects and Applications,” M. S. Seehra and A. D. Bristow (Eds.) IntechOpen (July 4th 2018).

Selected Journal Publications

• R. T. A. Tirumala, S. Gyawali, A. Wheeler, S. B. Ramakrishnan, R. Sooriyagoda,
  F. Mohammadparast, S. Tan, A. K. Kalkan, A. D. Bristow, M. Andiappan, "Structure-property-performance relationships of cuprous oxide nanostructures for dielectric Mie resonance-enhanced photocatalysis," ACS Catalysis 12, 7975-7985 (2022).
  

• H. P. Piyathilaka, R. Sooriyagoda, V. R. Whiteside, T. D. Mishima, M. B. Santos, I. R. Sellers, A. D. Bristow, "Nonequilibrium hot-carrier transport in type-II multiple-quantum wells for solar-cell applications," Physical Review Applied 18, 014001-9 (2022).
  

• J. Paul, H. Rose, E. Swagel, T. Meier, J. K. Wahlstrand, A. D. Bristow, "Coherent contributions to population dynamics in a semiconductor microcavity," Physical Review B 105, 115307-11 (2022).
  

• E. Swagel, J. Paul, A. D. Bristow, J. K. Wahlstrand, “Analysis of complex multidimensional optical spectra by linear prediction,” Optics Express 29, 37525-37533 (2021).

• H. P. Piyathilaka, R. Sooriyagoda, H. Esmaielpour, V. R. Whitesides, T. D. Mishima, M. B. Santos,I. R. Sellers, A. D. Bristow, “Hot-carrier dynamics in InAs/AlAsSb multi-quantum wells,” Scientific Reports 11, 10483 (2021).

• R. Sooriyagoda, H. P. Piyathilaka, K. T. Zawilski, P. G. Schunemann, A. D. Bristow, “Carrier transport and electron-lattice interactions of nonlinear optical crystals CdGeP₂, ZnGeP₂ and CdSiP₂ ,” Journal of the Optical Society of America B 38, 769 (2021).

• M. F. Munoz, A. Medina, T. M. Autry, G. Moody, M. E Siemens, A. D Bristow, S. T. Cundiff, H. Li, “Fast phase cycling in non-collinear optical two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy,” Optics Letters 45, 5852 (2020).

• S. Anghel, F. Passmann, K. J. Schiller, J.N. Moore, G. Yusa, T. Mano, T. Noda, M. Betz, A.D. Bristow, “Spin-locked transport in a two-dimensional electron gas,” Physical Review B 101, 155414 (2020).
  

• J. K. Wahlstrand, G. M. Wernsing, J. Paul, A. D. Bristow, “Automated polarization-dependent multidimensional coherent spectroscopy phased using transient absorption,” Optics Express 27, 31790 (2019).

• H. P. Piyathilaka, R. Sooriyagoda, V. Dewasurendra, M. B. Johnson, K. T. Zawilski, P. G. Schunemann, A. D. Bristow, “Terahertz generation by optical rectification in chalcopyrite crystals” ZnGeP₂, CdGeP₂ and CdSiP₂,” Optics Express 27, 16958 (2019).

• S. Anghel, F. Passmann, C. Rupert, A. D. Bristow, M. Betz “Coupled exciton-trion spin dynamics in a MoSe₂ monolayer,” 2D Materials 5, 045024 (2018).

• H. Esmaielpour, V. R. Whiteside, H. P. Piyathilaka, S. Vijeyaragunathan, B. Wang, E. Adcock-Smith, K. P. Roberts, T. D. Mishima, M. B. Santos, A. D. Bristow, I. R. Sellers, “Original of inhibited hot carrier cooling in type-II InAs/AlAs_1-x Sb_x quantum wells,” Scientific Reports 8, 12473-9 (2018).

• D. A. Bas, R. A. Muniz, S. Babakiray, D. Lederman, J. E. Sipe, A. D. Bristow, “Identification of photocurrents in topological insulators,” Optics Express 24, 23583-23595 (2016).

• J. Li, S. K. Cushing, F. Meng, T. R. Senty, A. D. Bristow, N. Wu, “Plasmon-induced resonance energy transfer for solar energy conversion,” Nature Photonics 9, 601-607 (2015).

• B. L. Wilmer, F. Passmann, M. Gehl, G. Khitrova, A. D. Bristow, “Multidimensional coherent spectroscopy of a semiconductor microcavity,” Physical Review B 91, 201304(R) (2015).

• S. K. Cushing, J. Li, F. Meng, T. R. Senty, S. Suri, M. Zhi, M. Li, A. D. Bristow, N. Q. Wu, “Photo-catalytic activity enhanced by plasmonic resonant energy transfer from metal to semiconductor,” Journal of American Chemical Society 134, 15033-15041 (2012).