Carlos Silva

Professor

Education

Postdoctoral Associate, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge (1998-2001)

PhD in Chemical Physics, University of Minnesota (1998)

Honors & Awards

• Fellow of the American Physical Society (2019)
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2018)
• Brockhouse Medal, Canadian Association of Physicists, Division of Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (2016)
• Université de Montréal University Research Chair (2014-2017)
• Herzberg Medal, Canadian Association of Physicists (2010)
• Canada Research Chair, Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (2005-2015)
• Advanced Research Fellowship, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, United Kingdom (2001-2005)
• Nonstipendiary Research Fellowship, Darwin College, University of Cambridge (2001)
• Overend Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Physical Chemistry, Univ. of MN (1997)
• Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Univ. of MN (1996)
• John Wertz Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Chemical Physics, Univ. of MN (1994)
• Fulbright/Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (Mexico) Graduate Fellowship (1992)
• Institute of American Chemists Student Award (1992)

Research

The Silva group is interested in understanding how excited states are created and how they evolve in complex materials of interest in optoelectronics. In order to achieve this understanding, we use advanced optical spectroscopic techniques, both time-resolved using ultrafast laser pulses, as well as quasi-steady-state methods. Our chore research focus centers around photoexcitation dynamics in organic, polymeric, and hybrid organic-inorganic semiconductors. With our ultrafast techniques, we can measure transient photoinduced absorption and luminescence, as well as nonlinear optical response of matter via coherent multidimensional spectroscopy. We are also interested in exploiting the quantum-mechanical nature of light, namely photon entanglement, to study with intricate selectivity how photoexcited states in matter correlate with one another. We are a diverse and multidisciplinary group, composed of students and postdocs with formal training in chemistry, physics, and materials science.

Papers

Selected publications over the past 10 years. For a full publication list, please see my Google Scholar Profile.

• Phonon coherences reveal the polaronic character of excitons in two-dimensional lead-halide perovskites​. Félix Thouin, David A. Valverde-Chávez, Claudio Quarti, Daniele Cortecchia, Ilaria Bargigia, David Beljonne, Annamaria Petrozza, Carlos Silva & Ajay Ram Srimath Kandada​. Nature Materials 18 (2019).
• Exciton-polaron spectral structures in two-dimensional hybrid lead-halide perovskites​. Stefanie Neutzner, Félix Thouin, Daniele Cortecchia, Annamaria Petrozza, Carlos Silva, and Ajay Ram Srimath Kandada​, Phys. Rev. Materials 2, 064605​ (2018).
• Stable biexcitons in two-dimensional metal-halide perovskites with strong dynamic lattice disorder. Félix Thouin, Stefanie Neutzner, Daniele Cortecchia, Vlad Alexandru Dragomir, Cesare Soci, Teddy Salim, Yeng Ming Lam, Richard Leonelli, Annamaria Petrozza, Ajay Ram Srimath Kandada, and Carlos Silva, Phys. Rev. Materials 2, 034001 (2018). 
• Probing dynamical symmetry breaking using quantum-entangled photons. Hao Li, Andrei Piryatinski, Jonathan Jerke, Ajay Ram Srimath Kandada, Carlos Silva and Eric R Bittner, Quantum Sci. Technol. 3, 015003 (2017).

• Incoherent population mixing contributions to phase-modulation two-dimensional coherent excitation spectra. Pascal Grégoire, Ajay Ram Srimath Kandada, Eleonora Vella, Chen Tao, Richard Leonelli, Carlos Silva, J. Chem. Phys. 147, 114201 (2017).

• Excitonic coupling dominates the homogeneous photoluminescence excitation linewidth in semicrystalline polymeric semiconductors. Pascal Grégoire, Eleonora Vella, Matthew Dyson, Claudia M Bazán, Richard Leonelli, Natalie Stingelin, Paul N Stavrinou, Eric R Bittner, Carlos Silva, Phys. Rev. B 95, 180201(R) (2017).

• Radiative pumping of polariton-states in a strongly-coupled microcavity containing a highly-fluorescent molecular dye. R.T. Grant, P. Michetti, K. Georgiou, T. Virgili, F. Galleotti, C. Clark, P. Grégoire, E. Vella, C. Silva, D.G. Lidzey, Adv. Opt. Mater. 4, 1615–1623 (2016). 
• Ultrafast spectroscopy with photocurrent detection: Watching excitonic optoelectronic systems at work. A.A. Bakulin, C. Silva, E. Vella, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 7, 250–258 (2016).
• Multi-phase microstructures drive exciton dissociation in neat semicrystalline polymeric semiconductors. F. Paquin, J. Rivnay, A. Salleo, N. Stingelin, and C. Silva, J. Mat. Chem. C 3, 10715–10722 (2015). 
• Direct observation of long-range charge separation at polymeric semiconductor heterojunctions. F. Provencher, N. Bérubé, A.W. Parker, G.M. Greetham, M. Towrie, C. Hellmann, M. Côté, N. Stingelin, C. Silva and S.C. Hayes. Nat. Commun. 5, 4288 (2014). 
• Noise-induced quantum coherence drives photocarrier generation dynamics at organic semiconductor heterojunctions. E.R. Bittner and C. Silva, Nat. Commun. 5, 3119 (2014).
• H- and J-aggregate behavior in polymeric semiconductors. F.C. Spano and C. Silva, Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem. 65, 477–500 (2014). 
• Two-dimensional spatial coherence of excitons in semicrystalline polymeric semiconductors: The effect of molecular weight. F. Paquin, H. Yamagata, N. Hestand, M. Sakowicz, N. Béerubé, Michel Côté, L.X. Reynolds, S.A. Haque, N. Stingelin, F.C. Spano, C. Silva. Phys. Rev. B 88, 155202 (2013). 
• Controlling the Interaction of Light with Semiconductor Polymers. C. Hellmann, F. Paquin, N.D. Treat, A. Bruno, L.X. Reynolds, S.A. Haque, P. Stavrinou, C. Silva, N. Stingelin. Adv. Mater, 25, 4906–4911 (2013). 
• Estimating the conditions for polariton condensation in organic thin-film microcavities. E.R. Bittner and C. Silva. J. Chem. Phys. 136, 034510 (2012). 
• Charge separation in semicrystalline polymeric semiconductors by photoexcitation: Is the mechanism intrinsic or extrinsic? F. Paquin, G. Latini, M. Sakowicz, P.-L. Karsenti, L. Wang, D. Beljonne, N. Stingelin, C. Silva. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 197401 (2011). 

Memberships & Committees

• Associate Editor, Science Advances (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
• Editorial Committee, Annual Review of Physical Chemistry
• Advisory Committee, Journal of Materials Chemistry C (Royal Society of Chemistry)