Alexander B. C. Mantilla

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science and Engineering working for Professor Yi Gu. My research necessitates that I work simultaneously as graduate research assistant at Washington State University and as a visiting research scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

My work involves the ultrasensitive detection and characterization of materials with nanoscale spatial resolution via plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy. More specifically, my thesis includes:

• Investigating the underlying physical phenomena involved with plasmon-enhanced, scanning probe-coupled, tip-enhanced spectroscopy.
• Implementing tip- and plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy for the nanoscale characterization and tuning of 2D semiconductor and ferroelectric devices.

I received my B.Sc. in Physics from Central Washington University in 2020. In undergrad, my research was split between two published projects:

• Growth and structural/thermal/magnetic characterization of perovskites at ultralow temperature.
• Computational modeling of simulated particle diffusion.

My full CV can be viewed here: (Link)

My Google Scholar page can be found here: (Link)

My LinkedIn page can be found here: (Link)

My publications are below:

1. A. B. C. Mantilla, C. -F. Wang, A. Krayev, Y. Gu, Z. D. Schultz, and P. Z. El-Khoury | “Classical vs Quantum Plasmon-Induced Molecular Transformations at Metallic Nanojunctions” Accepted: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2024
2. O. M. Primera-Pedrozo^†, A. B. C. Mantilla^†, T. L. Myers, Y. Gu, and P. Z. El-Khoury | “Controlling the Fluctuating Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectra of Chloramben on Silver Nanocubes” Analytical Chemistry 2024, 96 (7), 2737-2741
3. J. Parker, M. Gabel, A. B. C. Mantilla, and Y. Gu | “Optical Effects on Polarization States in van der Waals Ferroelectric α-In₂Se₃” The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 2023, 127 (45), 22157-22163
4. C. -F. Wang, A. B. C. Mantilla, A. Krayev, Y. Gu, and P. Z. El-Khoury | “Probing Local Optical Fields via Ultralow Frequency Raman Scattering from a Corrugated Probe” The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2023, 14 (37), 8334-8338
5. A. B. C. Mantilla, B. E. Matthews, Y. Gu, and P. Z. El-Khoury | “Selective Plasmon-Induced Oxidation of 4-Aminothiophenol on Silver Nanoparticles” The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 2023, 127 (17), 8048-8053
6. C. -F. Wang, A. B. C. Mantilla, Y. Gu, and P. Z. El-Khoury | “Ambient Tip-Enhanced Two Photon Photoluminescence from CdSe/ZnS Quantum Dots” The Journal of Physical Chemistry A 2023, 127 (4), 1081-1084
7. A. B. C. Mantilla, C. -F. Wang, Y. Gu, Z. D. Schultz, and P. Z. El-Khoury | “Multipolar Raman Scattering vs Interfacial Nanochemistry: Case of 4-Mercaptopyridine on Gold” Journal of the American Chemical Society 2022, 144 (45), 20561-20565
8. A. B. C. Mantilla and N. J. Kuwada | “A Flexible Laboratory Exercise Introducing Practical Aspects of Mean Squared Displacement” The Biophysicist 2021, 2 (1), 126-136
9. B. D. White, A. B. C. Mantilla, and J. Jesenovec | “Reduced Magnetic Disorder at Low Temperature in Ca₃Co₂O₆ via Zinc Substitution” Philosophical Magazine 2020, 100 (10), 1226-1243

†Equal contribution