Caroline Martin

I am a fifth year doctoral student at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, with a concentration in Applied Physics. My research focuses on soft matter physics- the squishy, messy physics that exists in intermediate length and temperature scales. Specifically, I study self-assembly, which is a process where small subunits can spontaneously put themselves together into some larger organized structure. I work to understand and control the self-assembly of colloidal particles, and to build better tools to image and characterize these processes.

One way I study colloidal self-assembly is by trying to develop novel methods to control assembly with DNA. Another is to precisely characterize the short-ranged interactions between the colloids to better understand what's driving their assembly.

I've also worked on developing better tools to watch and characterize colloids with light scattering methods like holographic microscopy and dynamic light scattering. I worked to improve characterization and tracking of colloidal particles using holographic microscopy by including optical effects in generative models, and to characterize the effects of spherical aberrations on holography through experiment and simulation.

If you want to hear more about the broad themes in my lab, check out this article I wrote for the Harvard physics department on the ways we probe the physics of order and disorder in the Manoharan lab!