Rafaela Brinn

2022-2023 Graduate Student Fellow

Faculty Advisor: Professor Paul Alivisatos

Current Position: Ph.D. Student (Ramesh Group)

rafaela.brinn@berkeley.edu

Rafaela Brinn is a 5th-year Chemistry PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her B.A. in Chemistry in 2019 from Barnard College, where she studied reaction rates of functionalizing graphene using Raman Spectroscopy in the Crowther group. During her PhD, she spent the first few years studying the fundamental optical properties of quantum dot thin films in the Alivisatos group and has since shifted to studying the emission of rare-earth dopants in ferroelectric oxide thin films as part of the Ramesh group.

More specifically, Rafaela is currently researching the electric field manipulation of single spins in Er3+-doped PbTiO3 thin films. The spin direction can be controlled by manipulating the PbTiO3 ferroelectric order parameter with an electric field, thus altering the local crystal field of the Er3+ dopant site. The research involves investigating changes in the optical emission of Er3+-doped PbTiO3 thin films due to different domain configurations imposed on the film by the substrate. The potential for tunability with electric fields may lead to a new way of manipulating information without relying on energy-intensive magnetic fields or large photonic-based systems.