Education

• Georg-August Universitat, B.A. 1989
• Georg-August Universitat and Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Ph.D. 1994
• University of Wisconsin-Madison, , German Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow 1994-1996 (Advisor: F. Fleming Crim)

Contact Information

• Office: Thompson Chemistry Laboratory, Room 120 (413) 597-3544
• Lab: Morley Science Laboratory, Room 157 (413) 597-3700
• E-mail: Dieter.Bingemann@williams.edu

Courses Taught

• 153: Concepts of Chemistry: Advanced Section
• 155: Concepts of Chemistry: Advanced Section
• 366: Physical Chemistry: Thermodynamics
• 368T: Quantum Chemistry and Molecular Spectroscopy
• ENVI 102: Introduction to Environmental Scienes
• CHEM 11: Science for Kids (Winter Study Program)

Research Students

• Aashish Adhikari '07
• James Brittin '06
• Noah Capurso '05
• John Harris '05
• Gerry Lindo '04
• Alison Peet '03

Summer Research Students

2007: Elizabeth Upton ’08, Avalon Gulley ’09 (in Environmental Sciences with Jay Thoman and David Richardson)
2006: Aashish Adhikari ’07,Johnathan Dahlberg ‘09
2005: Ben Rudick ’08, Ashleigh Theberge ’06
2004: Geoff O’Donoghue ’06, Nat Erb-Satullo (Swarthmore ‘07), Noah Capurso ’05
2003: John Harris ’05, Noah Capurso ’05, Gerry Lindo ‘04

Selected Publications

• "Heterogeneous Dynamics and Dynamic Heterogeneities at the Glass Transition Probed with Single Molecule Spectroscopy," A.N. Adhikari, N.A. Capurso, D. Bingemann, , Journal of Chemical Physics, 127 (8), 114508 (2007).
• "Decoupled Dynamics and Quasi-Logarithmic Relaxation in the Polymer-Plasticizer System Poly(Methyl Methacrylate)/Tri-m-Cresyl Phosphate Studied with 2D NMR," D. Bingemann, N. Wirth, J. Gmeiner, E. A. Rössler, Macromolecules, 40 (15), 5379-5388 (2007). DOI: 10.1021/ma070519g.
• "Analysis of "blinking" or "hopping" single molecule signals with a limited number of transitions," D. Bingemann, Chemical Physics Letters 433, 234-238 (2006).
• "Vibrational Relaxation of CH2I2 in solution: Ecitation Level Dependence," C. G. Elles, D. Bingemann, M. M. Heckscher, F. Fleming Crim, J. Chem. Phys. 118, 5587 (2003).
• "Relaxation of the C-H stretching fundamental vibrations of CHI3, CH2I2, CH3I in solution," M.M. Heckscher L. Sheps, D. Bingemann, F. Fleming Crim, J. Chem. Phys. 117, 8917 (2002).
• "CH2I2: Fundamental Vibrational Relaxation in Solution Studied by Transient Electronic Absorption", C. M. Cheatum, M. M. Heckscher, D. Bingemann, F. F. Crim, J. Chem. Phys., 115, 7086 (2001).
• "Transient electronic absorption of vibrationally excited CH2I2: Watching energy flow in solution," D. Bingemann, A. M. King, and F. F. Crim, J. Chem. Phys. 113, 5018 (2000).
• "Time-resolved vibrationally mediated photodissociation of HNO3: Watching vibrational energy flow," D. Bingemann, M. P. Gorman, A. M. King, and F. F. Crim, J. Chem. Phys. 107, 661 (1997).
• "Femtosecond Solvation Dynamics Determining the Band Shape of Stimulated-Emission from a Polar Styryl Dye," D. Bingemann and N. P. Ernsting, J. Chem. Phys. 102, 2691 (1995).
• "A New Cell Design for Off-Axis Amplification of Ultrashort Dye-Lasers Which Uses Total Internal-Reflection," T. Bultmann, D. Bingemann, N. P. Ernsting, D. Schwarzer, and L. Nikowa, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 66, 4393 (1995).

Research Interests

Single Molecule Spectroscopy of Dynamic Heterogeneities

From windows to synthetic polymers, from fiber optics to sugar coatings on corn flakes, glasses are ubiquitous in our daily lives.  With physical properties of a solid and microscopic structure of a liquid, glasses are neither; they evolve slowly over time.  In the past few years the focus of research on these materials has gradually shifted from a macroscopic description of properties to their analysis on a molecular scale. One especially promising result explains their unusual properties as a consequence of a strong dependence of a molecule's dynamics on the structure of its environment, a correlation often called “dynamic heterogeneity.” Our research pushes this molecular description of glass dynamics to its extreme: using single molecule spectroscopy to study glasses one molecule at a time.