Benjamin Toulson Email & Phone Number

Milpitas, California, United States

San Francisco Bay Area

- Employed ultrafast XUV transient absorption spectroscopy to compare UV and strong-field driven dynamics of small organic molecules.- Element-specific core-to-valence transitions provide an atomic scale perspective, sensitive to changes in the local valence electronic structure, with ultrafast time resolution.- Table top high harmonic generation using infinite gas cell to generate X-ray continuum.- Ultrafast pulse characterization using reconstruction frequency resolved optical gating (FROG) and relative grating-eliminated no-nonsense observation of ultrafast incident laser light e-fields (GRENOUILLE) with reconstruction in MATLAB.- Implementation of numerical fitting and singular value decomposition routines in Igor Pro. - Acquired experience maintaining and repairing Titanium:Sapphire oscillators and amplifiers, including crystal replacement, Pockels cells, ring amplifier alignment. - Variable linespace grating provides flat-field diffraction of X-rays onto cooled back illuminated CCD for direct high-resolution spectral detection.- Labview software developed using State Machine architecture and Queuing System to allow live feedback, signal optimization and continuous data acquisition.

Irvine, Ca

- Performed pump-probe spectroscopy using nanosecond and picosecond lasers.- Built a new velocity-map ion imaging (VMI) spectrometer. This variant of time-of-flight mass spectrometry incorporates a position sensitive ion detector to allow measurement of photofragment velocities.- Used VMI spectrometer to measure product branching and energy disposal in fragments.- Wrote Labview to automate experiment. Software interfaced with digital delay generators that control experiment synchronization, pump + probe wavelengths and laser polarization. Simultaneously detect power meters, a digital oscilloscope and a CCD camera.- Wrote analysis software to analyze VMI images, retrieve speed distributions and find anisotropy in angular distributions using Igor Pro.- Extensive use of nonlinear optics (NLO) and tunable light sources: optical parametric oscillators (OPO), optical parametric amplifiers (OPA), and dye lasers. Frequency doubling, mixing after doubling.- Used resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization to state-selectively probe fragments. - Optogalvanic spectroscopy used to record scan wavelength.- Built vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) source ~118 nm / 10.5 eV. Simulated propagation using ray tracing. Performed studies that utilize VUV "universal" ionization scheme to probe all fragments. - Performed time-resolved VMI to show competing channels and how conical intersections can lead to long lived "reservoir" of S0 molecules that statistically dissociate.- Studied molecular photochemistry of species of atmospheric interest and explore unconventional mechanisms.- Experiments were complimented by ab initio calculations. Calculated potential energy cuts using multi-reference configuration interaction (MRCI) using Molpro. Calculated vibrational frequencies and intrinsic reaction coordinates linking reactants to products. - Wrote Phase Space Theory (PST) code for statistical partitioning of energy following molecular dissociation.

Irvine, Ca

The AirUCI Summer Teacher Workshop helps disseminate cutting edge Environmental Science.High school teachers opt to spend their vacation with us taking lectures and labs.- Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was used to identify metals and composite materials by collecting spectra and time-resolved data.- No black box science, students helped dismantle an old Nd:YAG to understand the fundamentals of how lasers work.Other Physical Chemistry Labs taught:- Fourier transform IR (FTIR) spectroscopy- Atomic force microscopy (AFM)- Luminescence spectroscopy- Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)- Transient absorption spectroscopySpring 2013 General Chemistry 1B Fall 2013 Quantum Mechanics 131ASummer 2014 AirUCI High School Teacher WorkshopFall 2014 Quantum Mechanics 231A (Graduate Level)Fall 2015 Quantum Mechanics 131AWinter 2015 General Chemistry 1ASpring 2016 Physical Chemistry Laboratory 153L

Redcar, Uk

Methyl methacrylate (MMA) is polymerized to produce pMMA. The properties of this acrylic plastic are ideal as a replacement for glass in laptop screens but extend to colorful and easily recycled bike helmets. Global demand growth for MMA is 4% year-on-year.- Lucite's Alpha Process provides a safer, more efficient route to MMA using two high-yield stages.- Worked as part of "Stage 1" using simple available chemicals: ethylene, methanol and carbon monoxide to produce methyl propionate.- Next gen. homogeneous catalyst trials- Responsibility for operating continuous pilot plant costing ~€400,000, a scaled model of the €120m industrial plant in Singapore.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Physical Chemistry

- Design, construct and calibrate a velocity-map ion imaging spectrometer. This variant of time-of-flight mass spectrometry incorporates.

Master’S Degree, Chemistry