Photo of Alexander Gillett

Alexander Gillett

Assistant Professor

Ultrafast laser spectroscopy on organic semiconductor materials. Wallenberg Academy Fellow 2023.

Biography

Dr Alexander Gillett leads a research group at Linköping University that focuses on the ultrafast optical spectroscopy of organic semiconductor materials. He started as an Assistant Professor in Linköping in 2024.

Before working at Linköping University, Alexander Gillett was a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Cambridge from 2022 – 2024. He received his PhD degree from the University of Cambridge under the Supervision of Prof. Sir Richard Friend in 2019 and worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the same group from 2019 – 2022. 

Research

Dr Gillett’s group uses ultrafast optical spectroscopy techniques, such as transient absorption and photoluminescence, to understand the fundamental photophysical processes underpinning the use of organic semiconductors in optoelectronic devices. This is enabled by a state-of-the-art laser spectroscopy lab, including: femtosecond and nanosecond laser sources, three optical parametric amplifiers for pulse generation from the UV to mid-infrared, non-colinear optical parametric amplifiers (NOPAs) for ultrashort pulse generation (<10 fs), visible and mid-infrared transient absorption setups with the option for 3-pulse ‘pump-push-probe’ measurements, a quantum cascade laser (tuneable from 1900 – 750 cm-1), and an intensified CCD camera for transient photoluminescence measurements. Using this experimental infrastructure, they hope to link fundamental science of these materials to their applications, providing design rules for developing more efficient photovoltaic and LED technologies. Current research topics in the group include:

 

The photophysics of organic photovoltaics:

Nature (2021)

Advanced Energy Materials (2022)

Advanced Energy Materials (2023)

Materials Today (2024)

 

Understanding the material degradation mechanisms in organic photovoltaics:

Joule (2023)

Energy & Environmental Science (2023)

 

Spin-triplet excited states in organic LEDs:

Nature Photonics (2020)

Nature Materials (2022)

Nature Communications (2022)

Nature Materials (2024)

Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2024)

Advanced Materials (2024)

 

The fundamental physics of organic semiconductors:

Nature Communications (2021)

Nature Chemistry (2024)

Nature (2024)

 

See the full list of publications at Google Scholar.

 

News

Publications

2023

Lucy J. F. Hart, Jeannine Gruene, Wei Liu, Tsz-ki Lau, Joel Luke, Yi-Chun Chin, Xinyu Jiang, Huotian Zhang, Daniel J. C. Sowood, Darcy M. L. Unson, Ji-Seon Kim, Xinhui Lu, Yingping Zou, Feng Gao, Andreas Sperlich, Vladimir Dyakonov, Jun Yuan, Alexander J. Gillett (2023) Understanding the Role of Triplet-Triplet Annihilation in Non-Fullerene Acceptor Organic Solar Cells Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 13, Article 2301357 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2021

Alexander J. Gillett, Claire Tonnele, Giacomo Londi, Gaetano Ricci, Manon Catherin, Darcy M. L. Unson, David Casanova, Frederic Castet, Yoann Olivier, Weimin Chen, Elena Zaborova, Emrys W. Evans, Bluebell H. Drummond, Patrick J. Conaghan, Lin-Song Cui, Neil C. Greenham, Yuttapoom Puttisong, Frederic Fages, David Beljonne, Richard H. Friend (2021) Spontaneous exciton dissociation enables spin state interconversion in delayed fluorescence organic semiconductors Nature Communications, Vol. 12, Article 6640 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Alexander J. Gillett, Alberto Privitera, Rishat Dilmurat, Akchheta Karki, Deping Qian, Anton Pershin, Giacomo Londi, William K. Myers, Jaewon Lee, Jun Yuan, Seo-Jin Ko, Moritz K. Riede, Feng Gao, Guillermo C. Bazan, Akshay Rao, Thuc-Quyen Nguyen, David Beljonne, Richard H. Friend (2021) The role of charge recombination to triplet excitons in organic solar cells Nature, Vol. 597, p. 666-+ (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

Organisation