Chris Jacobsen

Chris Jacobsen
Professor
PhD, Stony Brook University, 1988

Presidential Faculty Fellow (White House/NSF), 1992-1997; International Dennis Gabor Award (Hungary), 1996; Kurt Heinrich Award (Microbeam Analysis Society), 2001; R&D 100 award winner, 1999
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2002-present; American Physical Society, 2011-present; Optical Society of America, 1999-present

Research group, calendar, teaching Winter 2013

Contact info:

Chris Jacobsen's research group is focused on developing new methods in x-ray microscopy, and applying them to interesting problems in biology, environmental science, and materials science.  Using either diffractive optics (like Fresnel zone plates fabricated using electron beam lithography), or lensless methods where iterative phase retrieval methods are used to reconstruct an image from a coherent diffraction pattern, images with a spatial resolution of 30 nm or better can be obtained.  In absorption contrast, one can combine imaging with spectroscopy to study chemical speciation at the nanoscale, or one can use fluorescence detection to study trace element distributions with parts-per-billion sensitivity.  We are also developing detectors and image reconstruction algorithms that can be used to obtain quantitative phase contrast images with hard X rays, and thus put elemental distributions into their ultrastructural context and also go from measurements of content to measurements of concentration (since concentration gradients drive chemical processes).  Finally, we are interested in understanding the limitations that radiation damage presents to x-ray microscopy studies, and in developing both cryo instrumentation and sample preparation methods to mitigate those limitations.  These efforts require bright x-ray beams, so we use synchrotron radiation sources at Argonne Lab, Berkeley Lab, and elsewhere.  Students in the group explore interesting problems in optical physics and in instrumentation, and get to broaden their perspective by working with collaborators from other research fields like biology, environmental science, and materials science.

Representative publications:

1. Roger Falcone, Chris Jacobsen, Janos Kirz, Stefano Marchesini, David Shapiro, and John Spence, "New directions in X-ray Microscopy," Contemporary Physics 52, 293-318 (2011).  [PDF]
   
2. C. Holzner, M. Feser, S. Vogt, B. Hornberger, S.B. Baines, and C. Jacobsen, “Zernike phase contrast scanning microscopy with X-rays,” Nature Physics 6, 883-887 (2010)   [PDF]
3. M.D. de Jonge, C. Holzner, S.B. Baines, B.S. Twining, K. Ignatyev, J. Diaz, D.L. Howard, D. Legnini, A. Miceli, I. McNulty, C.J. Jacobsen, and S. Vogt, “Quantitative 3D elemental microtomography of Cyclotella meneghiniana at 400-nm resolution,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, 15676-15680 (2010).  [PDF]
4. J. Nelson, X. Huang, J. Steinbrener, D. Shapiro, J. Kirz, S. Marchesini, A.M. Neiman, J.J. Turner, and C. Jacobsen, “High resolution x-ray diffraction microscopy of specifically labeled yeast cells,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, 7235 (2010).  [PDF]
5. J. Steinbrener, J. Nelson, X. Huang, S. Marchesini, D. Shapiro, J. J. Turner and C. Jacobsen, "Data preparation and evaluation techniques for x-ray diffraction microscopy", Optics Express 18, 18598-18614, (2010).   [PDF]
   
6.  X. Huang, J. Nelson, J. Kirz, E. Lima, S. Marchesini, H. Miao, A.M. Neiman, D. Shapiro, J. Steinbrener, A. Stewart, J.J. Turner, and C. Jacobsen, “Soft x-ray diffraction microscopy of a frozen hydrated yeast cell,” Physical Review Letters 103, 198101 (2009).  [PDF]
   
7. M. Howells, T. Beetz, H. Chapman, C. Cui, J. Holton, C. Jacobsen, J. Kirz, E. Lima, S. Marchesini, H. Miao, D. Sayre, D. Shapiro, J. Spence, and D. Starodub, “An assessment of the resolution limitation due to radiation-damage in x-ray diffraction microscopy,” Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena 170, 4–12 (2009).  [PDF]
8. M. D. de Jonge, B. Hornberger, D. Paterson, C. Holzner, D. Legnini, I. McNulty, C. Jacobsen, and S. Vogt, “Quantitative phase imaging with a scanning transmission x-ray microscope,” Physical Review Letters 100, 163902 (2008).  [PDF]
9. J. Lehmann, D. Solomon, J. Kinyangi, L. Dathe, S. Wirick, and C. Jacobsen, “Spatial complexity of soil organic matter forms at nanometre scales,” Nature Geoscience 1, 238-242 (2008).  [PDF]
10. D. Shapiro, P. Thibault, T. Beetz, V. Elser, M. Howells, C. Jacobsen, J. Kirz, E. Lima, H. Miao, A. M. Neiman, and D. Sayre, “Biological imaging by soft x-ray diffraction microscopy,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102, 15343-15346 (2005).   [PDF]
11. C.K. Boyce, M.A. Zwieniecki, G.D. Cody, C. Jacobsen, S. Wirick, A.H. Knoll, and N. M. Holbrook, “Evolution of xylem lignification and hydrogel transport regulation.”  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101, 17555-17558 (2004).  [PDF]
12. J. Kirz, C. Jacobsen, and M. Howells, “Soft x-ray microscopes and their biological applications.” Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics 28, 33-130 (1995).  [PDF]