• B.S. in Engineering Physics (1994), University of Arizona
• Ph.D. in Physics (2001), Rice University

Research Experience:

Professor Gerton joined the faculty in August of 2004. Prior to that, he was a Beckman Senior Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology in the biophysics group of Professor Stephen Quake. His research at Caltech focused on near-field optical microscopy. In particular, he helped develop a technique that combines a fluorescence microscope and an atomic force microscope (AFM) for spectroscopic imaging with molecular-scale resolution. The AFM probe strongly enhances the intensity of an excitation-laser in analogy with a lightning rod leading to fluorescence microscopy with spatial resolution below 10 nm. This resolution is roughly a factor of 25 below the diffraction limit of classical optics. This work led to a patent (pending) and has potential in a wide array of applications including studies of dynamic interactions between the various biomolecules which constitute the sub-cellular machinery.

The postdoctoral work of Professor Gerton was a departure from his graduate work at Rice University in the group of Professor Randy Hulet. There he studied atomic physics, in particular laser cooling of alkali gases to nano-Kelvin temperatures and Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC). BEC is a phase transition whereby the atoms in a trapped gas, when cooled to sub micro-Kelvin temperature, display wave-like rather than particle-like behavior, and pile up into a single quantum-mechanical wave-function. The 2001 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for the first experimental achievement of BEC and Professor Hulet is one of the true pioneers of the field.

Research Goals:

Professor Gerton’s research at Utah will focus on the development of scanning probe techniques to study and control nanoscale biological systems. This research will build on the near-field microscopy expertise he gained at Caltech. Near-term goals include using carbon single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) attached to conventional AFM probes to extend the optical resolution below 5 nanometers and to study the dependence of near-field optical contrast on various physical parameters such as excitation wavelength, and probe shape and material. Further in the future, the SWNT probes will be functionalized at their ends with single biomolecules, e.g. enzymes or ligands, to achieve single-molecule biochemical precision. Combining molecular-scale microscopy with single-molecule biochemical precision will enable a new class of biophysical experiments where specific biochemical sites can be addressed, and further, triggered to induce a particular reaction.

Selected Recent Publications

• "Resolve Single Fluorophores Within Dense Ensembles: Contrast Limits of Tip-Enhanced Fluorescence Microscopy," B. D. Mangum, C. Mu, and J. M. Gerton, Optics Express 6193, Volume 16 (2008)
• "Nanoscale Fluorescence Microscopy Using Carbon Nanotubes," C. Mu, B. D. Mangum, C. Xie, and J.M. Gerton, IEEE J Sel Top Quant 206, Volume 14 (2008)
• "Fluorescence Near-Field Microscopy of DNA at Sub-10 nm Resolution," Z. Ma, J. M. Gerton, L. A. Wade, and S. R. Quake, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 260801 (2006).
• "Tip-Enhanced Fluorescence Microscopy of High-Density Samples," C. Xie, C. Mu, J. R. Cox, and J. M. Gerton, Applied Physics Letters 89, 143117 (2006).
• “Tip-Enhanced Fluorescence Microscopy at 10 nm Resolution,” J. M. Gerton, L. A. Wade, G. A. Lessard, Z. Ma, and S. R. Quake, Physical Review Letters 93, 180801 (2004).
• “Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling in Bose-Einstein Condensates,” C. A. Sackett, J. M. Gerton, M. Welling, and R. G. Hulet, in Exploring the Quantum/Classical Frontier: Recent Advances in Macroscopic and Mesoscopic Quantum Phenomena, J.R. Friedman and S. Ham, eds. (Nova Science, 2003).
• “Quantum Degeneracy in Lithium Gases,” R. G. Hulet & J. M. Gerton, in Trapped Particles and Fundamental Physics, S. N. Atutov, R. Calabrese, and L. Moi, eds. (Kluwer, 2002).
• “Photoassociative Frequency Shift in a Quantum Degenerate Gas,” J. M. Gerton, B. J. Frew, & R. G. Hulet, Physical Review A 64, 053410 (2001).
• “Direct Observation of Growth and Collapse of a Bose-Einstein Condensate with Attractive Interactions,” J. M. Gerton, D. Strekalov, I. Prodan & R. G. Hulet, Nature 408, 692 (2000).
• “Laser-Free Slow Atom Source,” B. Ghaffari, J. M. Gerton, W. I. McAlexander, K. E. Strecker, D. M. Homan, & R. G. Hulet, Physical Review A 60, 3878 (1999).
• “Dipolar Relaxation Collisions in Magnetically Trapped ⁷Li,” J. M. Gerton, C. A. Sackett, B. J. Frew, & R. G. Hulet, Physical Review A 59 1514 (1999).
• “Measurements of Collective Collapse in a Bose-Einstein Condensate with Attractive Interactions,” C. A. Sackett, J. M. Gerton, M. Welling, & R. G. Hulet, Physical Review Letters 82 876 (1999).
• “Probing a Bose-Einstein Condensate by Near-Resonant Light Scattering,” C. A. Sackett, J. M. Gerton, M. Welling, & R. G. Hulet, Spectral Lineshapes: Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Conference on Spectral Lineshapes, R. Herman, ed., Volume 10 (1999).
• “Collective Collapse of a Bose-Einstein Condensate with Attractive Interactions,” C. A. Sackett, J. M. Gerton, M. Welling, & R. G. Hulet, in Atomic Physics 16, W. E. Baylis and G. W. F. Drake, eds. (1999).
• “Triplet s-Wave Resonance in ⁶Li Collisions and Scattering Lengths of ⁶Li and ⁷7i,” E. R. I. Abraham, W. I. McAlexander, J. M. Gerton, R. G. Hulet, R. Côté, & A. Dalgarno, Physical Review A 55 R3299 (1997).
• “Singlet s-Wave Scattering Lengths of ⁶Li and ⁷Li,” E. R. I. Abraham, W. I. McAlexander, J. M. Gerton, R. G. Hulet, R. Côté, & A. Dalgarno, Physical Review A 53 R3713 (1996).