Biography

Juan Carlos Idrobo is an Associate Professor in the Materials Science & Engineering Department. Previous to his UW appointment, Juan Carlos was a Senior Staff Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Group Leader of the Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy Group at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences. 

His research consists in applying analytical techniques in electron spectroscopy within monochromated and aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy to study the structure, electronic, magnetic, thermal, optical and topological properties of materials.

Juan Carlos holds Physics degrees from Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia (B.Sc., 2000), University of Illinois at Chicago (Master, 2003) and University of California Davis (Ph.D., 2004).

Education

• Ph.D. in Physics, University of California Davis, 2004
• M.S. in Physics, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2003
• B.S. in Physics, Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia), 2000

Research Statement

We are interested in understanding the structure, electronic, magnetic, thermal, optical and topological properties of materials, by applying and developing novel analytical electron spectroscopy and imaging techniques within monochromated and aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy.

Select publications

1. J.A. Hachtel, J. Huang, I. Popovs, S. Jansone-Popova, J. Keum, J. Jakowski, T.C. Lovejoy, N. Dellby, O.L. Krivanek, J.C. Idrobo, “Identification of site-specific isotopic labels by vibrational spectroscopy in the electron microscope,” Science 363, 525 (2019).
2. J.C. Idrobo, A. R. Lupini, T. Feng, R.R. Unocic, F.S. Walden, D.S. Gardiner, T.C. Lovejoy, N. Dellby, S.T. Pantelides, and O.L. Krivanek, “Temperature Measurement by a Nanoscale Electron Probe Using Energy Gain and Loss Spectroscopy,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 095901 (2018).
3. J.C. Idrobo, J. Rusz, J. Spiegelberg, M.A. McGuire, C.T. Symons, R.R. Vatsavai, C. Cantoni, and A.R. Lupini, “Detecting magnetic ordering with atomic size electron probes,” Advanced Structural and Chemical Imaging 2, 5 (2016)
4. J. Rusz, J.C. Idrobo, and S. Bhowmick, “Achieving atomic resolution magnetic dichroism by controlling the phase symmetry of an electron probe,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 145501 (2014). (Cover Issue)
5. W. Zhou, X. Zou, S. Najmaei, Z. Liu, Y. Shi, J. Kong, J. Lou, P.M. Ajayan, B.I. Yakobson, J.C. Idrobo, “Intrinsic structural defects in monolayer molybdenum disulfide,” Nano Letters 13, 2615 (2013).

Honors & awards

• 2020 Innovation Award, Microscopy Today: “For the development of Isotope-Resolved Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (IR-EELS),” J.C. Idrobo, J.A. Hachtel, J.R. Jokisaari, R.F Klie & O.L. Krivanek, Microscopy and Microanalysis (2020).
• 2019 Director's Award for Team Accomplishment in the Science and Technology Category, UT-Battelle Awards Night, ORNL “For the development of Isotope-Resolved Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (IR-EELS)”
• 2019 Team Award for Research Accomplishment in the Science and Technology Category, UT-Battelle Awards Night, ORNL “For the development of Isotope-Resolved Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (IR-EELS)”
• “2018 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher”: In recognition of ranking among the top 1% of researchers being cited in Cross-Field in Web of Science, between 2006 and 2016.
• 2017 Innovation Award, Microscopy Today: “For the development of a STEM Method to Observe Magnetic Ordering with Atomic Resolution,” J.C. Idrobo & J. Rusz, Microscopy and Microanalysis (2017).
• Outstanding Technical Achievement Great Minds in STEM - 2014, Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation (HENAAC).
• Best Technical 2012 Paper: “Single Atom Microscopy,” W. Zhou, M.P. Oxley, A.R. Lupini, O.L. Krivanek, S.J. Pennycook, and J.C. Idrobo, Microscopy and Microanalysis 18, 1342 (2012).
• 2005 Spring Meeting Gold Award Winner of the Graduate Student Award, organized by the Materials Research Society (MRS), San Francisco, USA.
• AAAS, APS, MSA, MRS