About

Welcome to the research homepage!

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Dr. Jan Zaręba is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Advanced Materials at Wrocław University of Science and Technology (WUST), Poland. He earned his doctoral degree in Chemistry from WUST in 2020 under the guidance of Prof. Marcin Nyk. During his PhD studies, he worked on novel characterization methods of two-photon absorption properties of coordination polymers and metal-organic frameworks, in the form of microcrystalline powders and nanoparticles, with an eye on applications such as nonlinear optical thermometry.

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Post his Ph.D., Dr Zaręba's research took a turn towards the exploration of stimulus-induced (temperature, pressure) structural phase transitions in metal-organic frameworks, coordination polymers and hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites. His work primarily employs femtosecond lasers whose interaction with crystalline matter may give rise to nonlinear optical emissions, such as second harmonic generation (SHG), third harmonic generation (THG), and two-photon excited luminescence (2PEL). These phenomena offer invaluable insights into the nature and mechanism of structural transitions of studied functional materials. Among these, SHG, as a second-order nonlinear optical process, is remarkably revealing of noncentrosymmetric order, a key requirement for relevant properties that are much-coveted for functional materials - piezoelectricity, pyroelectricity, and ferroelectricity.

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Conducted research goes deeper into the specifics of nonlinear optics in functional materials. For instance, temperature screenings of nonlinear optical (NLO) responses have led to the discovery of materials with unique NLO functionalities, such as unconventional temperature-induced switching of nonlinear optical responses. Prime examples of that are temperature-induced SHG-low to SHG-high switching, SHG threshold temperature sensing, and THG switching, among others. Detailed descriptions are provided in the 'areas of research interest' section.

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The bulk of these studies is primarily conducted within the framework of several National Science Center Opus grants in which Dr Zaręba participates as a co-investigator in highly collaborative research teams. Dr. Zaręba has also recently received an NCN Sonata research grant PhotoReactMat2 in which his team studies two-photon-induced targeted photochemical reactions in MOFs and hydrogen-bonded supramolecular structures as well as their physciochemical consequences.

 

See also the full publication record on this website.