David Lafayette

Since David joined the Wright Group in 2017, he has focused on characterizing the material response and photocarrier dynamics of novel, excited perovskite semiconductors, synthesized by Wisconsin’s own Jin Group. David’s experiments have relied heavily on transient reflection, a surface-sensitive pump-probe technique, using the Wright Group’s femtosecond, color-tunable lasers. He is currently pushing to incorporate additional, complementary probes, like broadband white light, useful for watching charge transfer in perovskite heterostructures, and nonlinear processes like third harmonic generation and CARS, seeking to examine the photoresponse of interband transitions.

In the pre-pandemic times, David enjoyed organized sports, like ultimate frisbee through MUFA, and basketball through UW RecWell. More recently, David is learning to skateboard and snowboard (tips appreciated).

Education

PhD - Chemistry, University of Wisconsin - Madison (2017-Present)

BS - Summa Cum Laude with Honors in Applied Chemistry, Beloit College (2013-2017)

Contact

dlafayette@wisc.edu