Quantum Resonance Sensing of Molecular Activity in Water

The Han lab uses advanced magnetic resonance manipulation and control over coupled electron and nuclear spin probes located on biomolecular and soft materials surfaces to uncover their structure, the design rules for molecular recognition, and the surface structuring and dynamics of hydration water.

The development effort requires multiple research tools in the realm of physical chemistry broadly speaking. They include instrument development to achieve hyperpolarization and quantum resonance sensing, the design of precisely tuned electron and nuclear spin clusters, spin physic theory and simulations, and the dynamics and thermodynamics of solvation science to control biomolecular activity and directed assembly.

The Han lab is pushing the frontier of electron and nuclear spin magnetic resonance instrumentation and concepts in dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) amplified nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). We are motivated by the power of “Seeing is Believing”. Visualizing molecular interactions and materials interfaces, previously “invisible”, can fundamentally transform our ability to discover solutions, and almost as importantly, ask new questions.