About us

Molecular Photophysics (MP2) research group is based in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney and was established in 2015 by A/Prof Girish Lakhwani.

Girish completed his integrated masters in chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur in 2005. He received his PhD degree in 2009 from Eindhoven University of Technology and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at University of Texas at Austin (2009-11) and University of Cambridge (2011-14) before joining the School of Chemistry in The University of Sydney, where he is currently an associate professor.

MP2 research focuses on developing spectroscopic methods to study optical and electronic properties of novel nanoscale semiconductor materials for solar energy harvesting, polarisation switching and polariton lasing.

What to join the group? Check out this link

CURRENT TEAM MEMBERS

PAST TEAM MEMBERS

Where are they now?

Yahui Tang (Postdoc, 2022-23) – postdoc in Prof Stephen Forrest group, University of Michigan

Patrick Conaghan (Postdoc, 2019-21) – policy advisor, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, UK Government

Randy Sabatini (Postdoc, 2017-20) – optoelectronics designer, IMAX corporation, Toronto

Alison Goldingay (PhD, 2024) – postdoc in Prof Sven Rogge group, UNSW

Yun Li (Phd, 2024) – postdoc in Dr Xanthe Croot group, University of Sydney

Ashish Sharma (PhD, 2020) – postdoc in Prof Akshay Rao group, University of Cambridge

Caleb Stamper (Honours, 2020) – PhD at University of Wollongong, Sydney

Matthew Rahme (Honours, 2019) – PhD at School of Physics, University of Sydney

Claire Wallace (Honours with University medal, 2017) – Associate at PWC, Sydney

PhD, Masters and Honours Graduations:

Alison Goldingay – PhD, 2024 | Thesis titled “Strong Light-Matter Coupling in Organic Photovoltaics“

Yun Li – PhD, 2023 | Thesis titled “Design of laser structures and configurations with solution processed active materials“

Julien Leoni – PhD, 2022 | Thesis titled “The multifaceted role of Perylene Diimides in Organic Solar Cells“

Ashish Sharma – PhD, 2020 | Thesis titled “Chiroptical phenomena in conjugated systems“

Yanchen Zhou – MPhil, 2021 | Theses titled “Study of Charge Transfer Dynamics in Organic Solar Cells via Drift-Diffusion Simulation“

Louis Casey – Honours, 2023 | Thesis titled “Structure-Property Effects in Complexes of Europium and Terbium with Sensitising Coumarin Chromophores“

Asher Jintoorkar – Honours, 2022 | Thesis titled “Non-linear optical properties in chiral Metal-organic frameworks for all optical switching“

Caleb Stamper – Honours, 2020 | Thesis titled “An Investigation into the Magneto-Optical Effects of Methylammonium Lead Halide Perovskites and their Potential as Faraday Rotator Materials“

Alison Campbell – Honours, 2019 | Thesis titled “One at a Time: Studying Quantum Dots Through Single Molecule Spectroscopy“

Matthew Rahme – Honours, 2019 | Thesis titled “A Electrically Conductive Material Blend for Polariton Lasing“

Yun Li – Honours, 2018 | Thesis titled “Probing Photophysical Properties of Singlet Fission Materials“

Claire Wallace – Honours (with university medal), 2017 | Thesis titled “Magnetic Circular Dichroism in Supramolecular Systems“

Yanchen Zhou – Graduate Diploma, 2018 | Thesis titled “Investigation of Singlet Fission by Studying Optical Properties of Pentacene Dimers“

Undergraduate research students:

Exchange Students: 2024 – Lucas Norg (Eindhoven University of Technology) | 2023 – Stevie Furxhiu | 2019 – Nicola Hensiek (University of Wuerzberg) | 2018 – Maura Appleberry (Boston University), Eleanor Forbes (University of Southampton) | 2016 – Yuxuan Wu (Nanjing University) | 2015 – Jiawei Lu (Nanjing University)

Group photos and videos