Eric Olaf Potma

Professor, Department of Chemistry, UC Irvine

Joint faculty, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Biography

Eric Olaf Potma is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine, where he also holds joint faculty appointments in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Groningen University in the Netherlands in 2001, where he studied under the guidance of D. A. Wiersma with a focus on ultrafast spectroscopy and microscopy. Following his doctoral studies, Potma completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University, working on coherent Raman microscopy under the supervision of X. S. Xie.

Potma's research interests include vibrational spectroscopy, nonlinear optical microscopy, and chemical imaging, with a particular focus on single molecule nonlinear optics. He has published prolifically, with over 148 peer-reviewed journal articles to his name, including works in prominent journals such as Science and Nature Photonics. His research has been supported by significant funding from agencies like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, facilitating projects on topics such as chiral sum-frequency generation microscopy and nonlinear optical microscopy. Potma's contributions to the field have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research in 2023 and the Beall Innovation Award in 2018.

In addition to his research, Potma is actively involved in teaching and mentoring at UC Irvine. He teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses across a range of subjects, from general chemistry to quantum mechanics. Over the years, he has supervised a broad spectrum of students, including postdoctoral scholars, doctoral candidates, and undergraduate researchers. Potma also plays a significant role in university service, participating in various departmental committees and initiatives, and he contributes to the broader scientific community through his roles as Deputy Editor and Associate Editor for key scientific journals.

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Education

PhD in Chemistry, Groningen University, the Netherlands, 2001
Masters in Chemistry, Groningen University, the Netherlands, 1996

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Distinctions

Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, 2023
Beall Innovation Award, 2018
Fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA), 2017
Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education, UC Irvine, 2017
Dean’s Honoree for Teaching Excellence in Undergraduate Education, UC Irvine, 2013
Early Career Research Award, Department of Energy, 2010
Career Award, National Science Foundation, 2009
EMBO Long Term Fellowship, European Molecular Biology Organization, 2003
TALENT Stipend, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), 2002

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Areas of Expertise

Vibrational Spectroscopy
Nonlinear Optical Microscopy
Chemical Imaging
Single Molecule Nonlinear Optics

Recent Publications

Ramos, R., “Super-stable Lipid Vacuoles Endow Cartilage with Its Shape and Biomechanics” (opens in new tab), Science, 2024.
Potma, E. O., “Highlight: Sensing nanoscale electromagnetic forces when the heat is on” (opens in new tab), National Science Review, vol. 11, no. 7, pp. nwae184, 2024.
Luna Palacios, Y. Y., Khandani, S., Garcia, E. P., Chen, A., Wang, S., Roy, K., Knez, D., Kim, D. A., Rocha-Mendoza, I., Potma, E. O., “Spectroscopic analysis of the sum-frequency response of the carbon-hydrogen stretching modes in collagen type I” (opens in new tab), J. Chem. Phys., vol. 160, pp. 185101, 2024.
Bauer A., Rolland J.P., Clark S., Potma E., Hanninen A., “All-reflective freeform microscope objective for ultra-broadband microscopy” (opens in new tab), Optics Express, vol. 32, pp. 47893-47907, 2024.
Potma E.O., “Foundations of Nonlinear Optical Microscopy” (opens in new tab), Foundations of Nonlinear Optical Microscopy, pp. 1-422, 2024.
Ranasinghesagara, J., Potma, E. O., Venugopalan, V., “Modeling nonlinear optical microscopy in scattering media, part II. Radiation from focal volume to far-field: tutorial” (opens in new tab), J. Opt. Soc. Am. A, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 883-897, 2023.
Ranasinghesagara, J., Potma, E. O., Venugopalan, V., “Modeling nonlinear optical microscopy in scattering media, part II. Propagation from lens to focal volume: tutorial” (opens in new tab), J. Opt. Soc. Am. A, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 867-882, 2023.
Li, Y, Townsend, K. M., Dorn, R. S., Prescher, J. A., Potma, E. O., “Enhancing alkyne-based Raman tags with a sulfur linker” (opens in new tab), J. Phys. Chem. B, vol. 127, no. 9, pp. 1976-1982, 2023.
Abedin, S., Li, Y., Sifat, A. A., Roy, K., Potma, E. O., “Enhancement of Molecular Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering with Silicon Nano-antennas” (opens in new tab), Nano Letters, vol. 22, no. 16, pp. 6685-6691, 2022.
Sifat, A. A., Capolino, F., Potma, E. O., “Force Detection of Electromagnetic Chirality of Tightly Focused Laser Beams” (opens in new tab), ACS Photonics, vol. 9, no. 8, pp. 2660-2667, 2022.
Abedin, S., Roy, K., Jin, X., Xia, H., Brueck, S. R. J., Potma, E. O., “Surface- enhanced coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering of molecules near metal-dielectric nanojunctions” (opens in new tab), J. Phys. Chem. C, vol. 126, pp. 8760-8767, 2022.
Sifat, A. A., Jahng, J., Potma, E. O., “Photo-induced force microscopy (PiFM) - principles and implementations” (opens in new tab), Chemical Society Review, vol. 51, pp. 4208-4222, 2022.
Potma E.O., Knez D., Fishman D.A., “Chemically selective 2D and 3D mid-infrared imaging at high speeds and definition”, Optics InfoBase Conference Papers, 2022.
Potma, E. O., Knez, D., Ettenberg, M., Wizeman, M., Sudol, T., Fishman, D. A., “High-speed 2D and 3D mid-IR imaging with an InGaAs camera” (opens in new tab), Appl. Phys. Lett. Photon., vol. 6, pp. 096108, 2021.
Potma, E. O., Knez, D., Chen, Y., Durkin, A., Fast, A., Balu, M., Norton-Baker, B., Baldacchini, T., Martin, R., Fishman, D. A., “Rapid chemically selective 3D imaging in the mid-infrared” (opens in new tab), Optica, vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 995–1002, 2021.
Prince, R. C., Potma, E. O., “Coherent Raman scattering microscopy: capable solution in search of a larger audience” (opens in new tab), Journal of Biomedical Optics, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 060601, 2021.
Sifat, A. A., Potma, E. O., “Optimizing the near-field and far-field properties of tips in tip-enhanced Raman scattering” (opens in new tab), Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, vol. 52, pp. 2018-2028, 2021.
Kim,B., Jahng, J., Lee, E. S., Potma, E. O., “Monitoring fast thermal dynamics at the nanoscale through frequency domain photo-induced force microscopy” (opens in new tab), Journal of Physical Chemistry C, vol. 125, no. 13, pp. 7276-7286, 2021.
Prince R.C., Potma E.O., “Stimulated Raman scattering: Ensembles to single molecules” (opens in new tab), Stimulated Raman Scattering Microscopy: Techniques and Applications, pp. 41-65, 2021.

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Most Cited Publications

Evans, C. L., Potma, E. O., Puori‘saag, M., Cote, D., Lin, C., Xie, X. S., “Chemical imaging of tissue in vivo with video-rate coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, vol. 102, pp. 16807–16812, 2005.
Potma, E. O., Evans, C. L., Xie, X. S., “Heterodyne coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) imaging” (opens in new tab), Optics Letters, vol. 31, pp. 241–243, 2006.
Prince, R. P., Frontiera, R., Potma, E. O., “Stimulated Raman scattering: from bulk to nano” (opens in new tab), Chemical Review, vol. 117, no. 7, pp. 5070–5094, 2017.
Nan, X., Potma, E. O., Xie, X. S., “Nonperturbative chemical imaging of organelle transport in living cells with coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy” (opens in new tab), Biophysical Journal, vol. 91, no. 2, pp. 728–735, 2006.
Potma, E. O., de Boeij, W. P., van Haastert, P. J. M., Wiersma, D. A., “Real-time visualization of intracellular hydrodynamics in single living cells” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, vol. 98, pp. 1577–1582, 2001.
Evans, C., Potma, E. O., Xie, X. S., “Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectral interferometry: Determination of the real and imaginary components of the nonlinear susceptibility for vibrational microscopy” (opens in new tab), Optics Letters, vol. 29, pp. 2923–2925, 2004.
Potma, E. O., Jones, D. J., Cheng, J., Xie, X. S., Ye, J., “High sensitivity coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy with two tightly synchronized picosecond lasers” (opens in new tab), Optics Letters, vol. 27, pp. 1168–1170, 2002.
Potma, E. O., Xie, X. S., “Detection of single lipid bilayers with coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy” (opens in new tab), Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, vol. 34, pp. 642–650, 2003.
Suhalim, J. L., Chung, C.-Y., Lilledahl, M. B., Lim, R. S., Levi, M., Tromberg, B. J., Potma, E. O., “Characterization of cholesterol crystals in atherosclerotic plaques using stimulated Raman scattering and second-harmonic generation microscopy” (opens in new tab), Biophysical Journal, vol. 102, pp. 1988–1995, 2012.
Wang Y., Lin C.Y., Nikolaenko A., Raghunathan V., Potma E.O., “Four-wave mixing microscopy of nanostructures” (opens in new tab), Advances in Optics and Photonics, vol. 3, pp. 1-52, 2011.

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Contact Information

Website: http://www.chem.uci.edu/~potma

Email: epotma@uci.edu

Phone: (949) 824 9942

Address: 1107 Natural Sciences II – Irvine, CA 92617

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Last updated on 2/14/2025.