Henderson, Tennessee — (May 23, 2024) — One of Freed-Hardeman University’s research groups, along with researchers at the University of Memphis, were recently published in the Journal of Chemical Physics for their paper, “Plasmonic Couplings in Ag (gold) – Au (silver) Heterodimers,” which examined how the metals influence each other and transfer energy. Overall, the research contributes to a deeper understanding of plasmonic interactions in nanomaterial systems. A link to the journal student can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0196256
“From our computations, we better understand how these materials interact,” Jim Barr, director of institutional research and analytics, said. Barr is also an assistant professor and program coordinator of chemistry. “Our research has risen to the top of the field due to some clever things we do in our simulations and resultant calculations. Plasmonic research has been around for several years, and is a very hot field right now.” The Journal of Chemical Physics only considers unique, novel, and significant research that is impactful to the field, and is determined to be so during peer-review.
The following individuals were involved in the research: Brinton King Eldridge (FHU alumnus); Elise A. Chaffin (FHU); James W. Barr (FHU) and U of M researchers Xiaohua Huang, Thang B. Hoang, Yongmei Wang and Saghar Gomrok.
This is Eldridge’s second publication. His first publication was a direct result of his undergraduate FHU honors thesis, which earned him an Alpha Chi scholarship to attend the University of Memphis to work on his doctorate. The topic of his thesis delved into a type of optical system that has wide applications in sensing and detection. Several classmates including Katie Stickels, Christian Sachs, Lauren Fielding and Paiton Williams were also involved in the previous work.
“He used his undergraduate FHU research to write his honors thesis and then leveraged the same work during his first year at U of M for his first publication,” Barr said. “One of the goals in our chemistry program is to help students execute research that can lead to publication, and for him to use for academic honors, and scholarships – it doesn’t get any better than that.” Information derived from this plasmonic research can impact everyday life, including medical screenings, molecular detection, materials science, and even energy harvesting, Barr added.
The mission of Freed-Hardeman University is to help students develop their God-given talents for His glory by empowering them with an education that integrates Christian faith, scholarship, and service. With locations in Henderson and Memphis, FHU offers associate, bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, and doctoral degrees.