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On May 7, 2020 and under the most adverse circumstances. Adam Bernicky successfully defended his M.Sc thesis on Hadamard Transform Fluorescence EEM spectroscopy!
All examiners were connected through teleconferencing software since the pandemic would not allow us to hold a defense face-to-face. Examiners were in two different timezones and covered a vast range of topics, yet Adam delivered a masterclass on how to excel in an M.Sc. defense.. Congratulations, Adam!
Read moreThank you to Dr. Gianluca Gagliardi and his group for welcoming Deniz and Peter to a 3-week stay in his lab to study brightly glowing liquid droplets! Our trip to the CNR – Istituto Nazionale di Ottica in Pozzuoli, Italy, included visits to Pompeii and Capri, lots of pizza, the best seafood on the planet, and some of the most “intense” traffic imaginable. Oh, and really awesome science, of course.
Read moreAlmost the entire lab was boxed up and shipped across the country.
After 21 years at Queen’s University, Loock Laser Lab moves to the University of Victoria. For Peter it is wonderful (and weird) to return to the university where he graduated in 1996. The rest of the group is apprehensive. Are Victorians friendly? How is the new space? Can we afford living there? Only time will tell. But first we need to unpack a huge number of boxes..!
Read moreGraduate Student Adam Bernicky holding the selfie stick at an authentic Bulgarian BBQ with collaborators from Aurubis, KPM, and Universidad de Concepción.
Read moreLoock Laser Lab jocks and jockettes assemble during the 2019 CCCE conference in Quebec City, Quebec.
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The Loock Laser Lab booth made another appearance at the annual Science Rendezvous Kingston on May 11, 2019. This year’s display featured our laser fountain, vanishing beads, a ‘stealth’ computer screen, and the ever-popular blue laser! A big thanks to the many volunteers who helped make this event a success.
More photos are available in our gallery here.
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Who wore it better?
Adam Pejic defended his research thesis “Flow-through plasmonic sensing, based on Silicone-coated nanohole arrays” on April 25, 2019. Adam’s work was co-supervised by Carlos Escobedo (CHEE) and resulted in a close collaboration with members of the Escobedo Group. Adam is a visiting student from Frankfurt, Germany and the research project will count towards his German M.Sc. degree.
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Our group has joined a multidisciplinary team of researchers in the departments of Chemistry, Physics and Chemical Engineering to provide the best education to graduate students in the fields of Materials for Advanced Photonics and Sensing, MAPS. Funded through the CREATE program of NSERC our collaboration was awarded $1.6M to provide the interdisciplinary training and optical and material sciences. Please click on the link to the CREATE-MAPS site to learn more.
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In our latest cover aarticle in Adv. Sus. Sys Hao Chen, John Saunders, Sogol Borjian and Xiaowei Wu were coating microphotonic tandem ring resonators with tetrasulfide‐functionalized mesoporous silica films to create remarkably sensitive and specific sensors for lead, Pb(II) in water.
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Arthur Stokreef (left) with colleagues and friends in Hamburg, Germany
Arthur Stokreef (M.Sc. candidate) celebrates the last day of his measurement campaign at the Aurubis smelter in Hamburg. Thanks to the Aurubis staff for giving us access to their infrastructure and allow us to collect data on their Cu-flash furnace.
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From left: Sean, Adam, Andrew, Emily, Leo, Matthias, and Annica
When group alumni Annika, Sean, Nic and Yoon returned to Queen’s, we caught up over a BBQ with beer, sausages, pretzels and pretzel buns. Apparently our mini-Oktoberfest was approved by three German graduate students (can you spot them?).
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Despite the weather forecast changing our plans, the lab still made it out for a fun day of laser tag, all-you-can-eat sushi and a nice walk around Lemoine Point. Enjoying the sunshine from left to right: Dr. Peter Loock, Will Day, Cameron Reid, Amy MacLean, Travis Ferguson, Arthur Stokreef, Adam Bernicky.
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Five of our members graduated with their B.Sc. this past week. Congratulations to Sarah Denotter, Emily Groper, Cameron Reid, Andrew Williams and Omar Yaman. Cameron Reid (pictured) also picked up some extra hardware, earning both the Medal in Chemistry and the Prince of Wales Prize, given to the top chemistry graduate and top B.Sc graduate overall at Queen's!
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Our laser booth at the Science Rendezvous this year was a big hit! Featured here is a NIR camera, laser fountain and the ever-popular fiber optic lamp. Our volunteers from left to right: Travis Ferguson, Omar Yaman, Will Day, Cameron Reid, Andrew Williams, Adam Bernicky, Amy MacLean, Peter Loock, Si Jia Li.
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It was time to change out of the lab coat and to mingle with other undergrads, grads and profs at our annual chemistry banquet. Rocking their outfit from left to right: Adam Bernicky, Andrew Williams, Emily Groper, Sarah Denotter, Cameron Reid, Peter Loock, Amy MacLean, and Omar Yaman.
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A new article co-authored by former graduate students John Saunders, Hao Chen, Weijan Chen and undergraduates Chris Brauer and McGregor Clayton, describes the application of a new interferometric refractometer to one of the most ubiquitous polymers, i.e. silicone. In the article we use a new model based on the Lorenz-Lorentz equation to quantify the amount of organic vapours in the PDMS film and can even characterize the polymer restructuring that occurs when a guest molecule enters the polymer.
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After 6 months in our lab as a visiting student Mahtab Abtahi returns home. During the farewell lunch she was finally introduced to bubble tea. All the best, Mahtab, we hope to see you again soon!
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Congratulations to Jeff Crouse who successfully defended his PhD thesis
INVESTIGATIONS OF ICE PHOTODYNAMICS: MOLECULAR DYNAMICS STUDIES AND AN APPARATUS FOR SOLID SAMPLE VELOCITY MAP IMAGING
Jeff will take his expertise on theoretical and experimental physical chemistry to the Royal Military college as an instructor in Quantum Chemistry and to the University of Waterloo as a postdoctoral fellow.
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From left to right: Sarah Denotter, Andrew Williams, Cameron Reid, Emily Groper, Omar Yaman.
Five excellent students from our lab will be presenting their projects today at the annual Queen's Chemistry Undergraduate Poster Session. This departmental tradition allows students completing a 4th year project to present their research to friends and colleagues. Come join us today in the 4th floor lounge to hear more about their work!
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It was wonderful to host Prof. Jean-Pierre van Helden (IPT Greifswald and University of Greifswald) when he visited Queen's on August 8th, 2017. Before giving a seminar on cavity-enhanced spectroscopy and its application to plasma science, he had a chance to travel through the 1000 Islands on a scenic boat cruise.
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