Dr Sebastian Gorgon

BSc, MRes, PhD

Research Fellow

Biography

I am a Research Fellow in Physics at Emmanuel College in the University of Cambridge, and a Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Advanced Electron Spin Resonance at the University of Oxford.

My first degree was in Chemical Physics at University College London, followed by a Master’s in Nanotechnology at Cambridge. I then joined the group of Prof Sir Richard Friend for my PhD at the Cavendish Laboratory, during which I was also a Bye-Fellow and College Teaching Associate at Downing College.

I am interested in materials with unusual light-matter interactions. Specifically, I am engineering carbon-based molecules towards applications in quantum information science, where they are well placed to act as miniature, ultra-precise sensors.

During my Fellowship, I lead a research programme centred on exploiting the properties of open-shell organic radicals which emit light, through which we can directly probe their quantum mechanical spin. These unique molecules offer rare advantages of room temperature operation and Lego-like tunability via chemical synthesis.

Teaching Interests

Condensed Matter Physics, Optics, Quantum Mechanics

Research

All published papers

Key works:

• Reversible spin-optical interface in luminescent organic radicals, Nature, 2023, 620, 538-544.
• Fast transfer of triplet to doublet excitons from organometallic host to organic radical semiconductors, Adv. Mater., 2024, 2402790.
• Efficient near-infrared organic light-emitting diodes with emission from spin doublet excitons, Nat. Photon., 2024, 18, 905-912.
• Radical TADF: Quartet-derived luminescence with dark TEMPO, Adv. Mater., 2025, 2501164.

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