About

Bruce H. Robinson is the Harry and Catherine Jaynne Boand Endowed Professor of Chemistry at the University of Washington. He holds a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, earned in 1975. His research interests include materials and physical chemistry, with a focus on the development and understanding of new materials for various applications. Robinson is actively involved in teaching courses such as Thermodynamics and Kinetics for Biochemists, Computers in Data Acquisition and Analysis, and Physical Chemistry Laboratory, among others. His contributions to the department include both research and education, supporting the advancement of physical chemistry and materials science.

Research topics

• Photochemistry
• Materials science
• Optoelectronics
• Organic chemistry
• Chemistry
• Optics
• Physics
• Composite material

Selected publications

• Ultrahigh Performance Cross-Linkable Organic Electro-Optic Material for Hybrid Modulators

  Chemistry of Materials · 2025-06-03 · 9 citations

  articleSenior author

  Achieving both high thermal stability and high electro-optical (EO) activity has traditionally been challenging in organic EO (OEO) materials. The highest combination of thermal stability and EO performance has previously been obtained with HLD1/HLD2, which is a cross-linkable, polymer-free binary OEO material capable of achieving an EO coefficient (r33) of up to 450 pm/V when not cross-linked and >250 pm/V (n3r33 > 2000 pm/V) at 1310 nm when cross-linked to a glass transition temperature (Tg) ∼ 175 °C. Herein, we report the design, synthesis, and evaluation of a cross-linkable chromophore system based on two higher hyperpolarizability chromophores BAH-X1 and BAH-X2, with complementary cross-linkable side chains. BAHX has ∼2 times the hyperpolarizability of HLD─based on hyper-Rayleigh scattering measurements─and ∼2 times the EO performance (maximum r33 up to 1100 pm/V when not cross-linked and >650 pm/V, n3r33 > 4500 pm/V, when cross-linked to Tg ∼ 150 °C). Long-term (>2000 h) thermal stability of EO activity has been demonstrated at 85 °C under nitrogen. This high EO activity has been translated to excellent device performance in a plasmonic-organic hybrid phase modulator utilizing 2:1 BAHX, demonstrating a push–pull Mach–Zehnder modulator equivalent VπL = 38 V μm at 1550 nm.

  PublisherDOI

• Perspective: Nanophotonic electro-optics enabling THz bandwidths, exceptional modulation and energy efficiencies, and compact device footprints

  APL Materials · 2023-05-01 · 39 citations

  articleOpen access

  The growth of integrated photonics has driven the need for efficient, high-bandwidth electrical-to-optical (EO) signal conversion over a broad range of frequencies (MHz–THz), together with efficient, high bandwidth photodetection. Efficient signal conversion is needed for applications including fiber/wireless telecom, data centers, sensing/imaging, metrology/spectroscopy, autonomous vehicle platforms, etc., as well as cryogenic supercomputing/quantum computing. Diverse applications require the ability to function over a wide range of environmental conditions (e.g., temperatures from <4 to >400 K). Active photonic device footprints are being scaled toward nanoscopic dimensions for size compatibility with electronic elements. Nanophotonic devices increase optical and RF field confinement via small feature sizes, increasing field intensities by many orders of magnitude, enabling high-performance Pockels effect materials to be ultimately utilized to their maximum potential (e.g., in-device voltage-length performance ≤0.005 V mm). Organic materials have recently exhibited significant improvements in performance driven by theory-guided design, with realized macroscopic electro-optic activity (r33) exceeding 1000 pm/V at telecom wavelengths. Hybrid organic/semiconductor nanophotonic integration has propelled the development of new organic synthesis, processing, and design methodologies to capture this high performance and has improved understanding of the spatial distribution of the order of poled materials under confinement and the effects of metal/semiconductor-organic interfaces on device performance. Covalent coupling, whether from in situ crosslinking or sequential synthesis, also provides a thermally and photochemically stable alternative to thermoplastic EO polymers. The alternative processing techniques will reduce the attenuation of r33 values observed in silicon organic hybrid and plasmonic organic hybrid devices arising from chromophore-electrode electrostatic interactions and material conductance at poling temperatures. The focus of this perspective is on materials, with an emphasis on the need to consider the interrelationship between hybrid device architectures and materials.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Towards scalable hybrid electro-optics (Conference Presentation)

  2022-10-04

  articleSenior author

  The development of silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) and plasmonic-organic hybrid (POH) electro-optic modulators in the 2010s has enabled the large electro-optic (EO) performance of organic chromophores to be leveraged for high-performance photonic components capable of integration with CMOS electronics. Recent improvements in theory-aided design and materials performance have enabled large increases in both electro-optic performance and materials stability. We report on the implications of these developments for hybrid device performance, manufacturability, processing, and packaging, as well as potential new directions for increasingly scalable fabrication of hybrid electro-optic devices for classical and quantum communications and computing applications.

  PublisherDOI

• Birefringence, dimensionality, and surface influences on organic hybrid electro-optic performance

  2021-07-28 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author

  Hybrid organic electro-optic (OEO) devices consist of a layer of ordered organic chromophores confined between layers of metals or semiconductors, enabling optical fields to be tightly confined within the OEO material. The combination of tight confinement with the high electro-optic (EO) performance of state-of-the art OEO materials enables exceptional electro-optic switching performance in silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) and plasmonic-organic hybrid (POH) device architectures. Recent records in POH devices include bandwidths < 500 GHz and energy efficiency < 100 aJ/bit. However, optimization of device performance requires both understanding and improving the degree to which chromophores can be acentrically ordered near a metal or semiconductor interface. Applying bulk and/or isotropic models of OEO materials to nanophotonic device architectures often lead to overly optimistic translation of materials performance to device performance. Prior work has identified influences of high centrosymmetric order (birefringence), altered relations between acentric and centrosymmetric order (dimensionality), and surface electrostatics on chromophore ordering. We combine these models into a representation that can be used to understand the influences of these phenomena on device performance, how some prior OEO materials exhibited unusually high performance under confinement, how ordering close to surfaces may be improved, and implications for future electro-optic device design.

  PublisherDOI

• New paradigms in materials and devices for hybrid electro-optics and optical rectification

  2021-08-04 · 11 citations

  article

  We review recent transformative advances in materials design, synthesis, and processing as well as device engineering for the utilization of organic materials in hybrid electro-optic (EO) and optical rectification (OR) technologies relevant to telecommunications, sensing, and computing. End-to-end (from molecules to systems) modeling methods utilizing multi-scale computation and theory permit prediction of the performance of novel materials in nanoscale device architectures including those involving plasmonic phenomena and architectures in which interfacial effects play a dominant role. Both EO and OR phenomenon require acentric organization of constituent active molecules. The incumbent methodology for achieving such organization is electric field poling, where chromophore shape, dipole moment, and conformational flexibility play dominant roles. Optimized chromophore design and control of the poling process has already led to record-setting advances in electro-optic performance, e.g., voltage-length performance of < 50 volt-micrometer, bandwidths < 500 GHz, and energy efficiency < 70 attojoule/bit. They have also led to increased thermal stability, low insertion loss and high signal quality (BER and SFDR). However, the limits of poling in the smallest nanophotonic devices—in which extraordinary optical field densities can be achieved—has stimulated development of alternatives based on covalent coupling of modern high-performance chromophores into ordered nanostructures. Covalent coupling enables higher performance, greater scalability, and greater stability and is especially suited for the latest nanoscale architectures. Recent developments in materials also facilitate a new technology—transparent photodetection based on optical rectification. OR does not involve electronic excitation, as is the case with conventional photodiodes, and as such represents a novel detection mechanism with a greatly reduced noise floor. OR already dominates at THz frequencies and recent advances will enable superior performance at GHz frequencies as well.

  PublisherDOI

• Design and synthesis of chromophores with enhanced electro-optic activities in both bulk and plasmonic–organic hybrid devices

  Materials Horizons · 2021 · 72 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Materials science
  • Optoelectronics
  • Photochemistry

  at 1550 nm, which is ∼1.7 times higher than JRD1 under equivalent conditions.

  PublisherDOI

• Mortality Risk Factors in the China Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS)

  Research Square · 2021-04-30 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract Background Mortality risk for hemodialysis (HD) patients varies by country and ethnicity. Here, mortality rate and its related risk factors in Chinese HD patients from the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS) were investigated. Methods Data from China DOPPS phase 5 (2012–2015) were used. Patients’ demographics, assigned primary causes of end stage Kidney disease (ESKD), comorbidities, dialysis prescription, laboratory values, date and cause for death were analyzed. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association of patient characteristics and treatments with mortality. Results 1427 HD patients were enrolled. The mean age was 59.4 ± 14.9 years. The median follow-up time was 1.9 (1.1–2.1) years. There was total 205 deaths with at least 103 from cardiovascular disease (50.2%). The overall mortality rate was 8.8 per 100 patient-years. In the multivariate COX model, older, serum albumin (Alb &lt; 4g/dl, blood platelets &lt; 100*10 9 /L, pulse pressure (PP) &gt; 63mmHg, and congestive heart failure history were independent risk factors for all-cause mortality. Conclusions Attention should be paid to patients who were older, with lower Alb and blood platelets level, higher PP and congestive heart failure history. Our results highlighted that there might be some modifiable risk factors for patients’ survival, such as Hgb, Alb, blood platelets, and blood pressure management.

  PublisherDOI

• Can traditional Chinese medicine formulas treat BMI-associated hypertension effectively?

  Advances in Obesity Weight Management & Control · 2021-05-10 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  The tradition of Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been in use and development for thousands of years, where it has been applied in some form for the treatment of nearly every common illness. TCM is currently undergoing a resurgence in interest and in providing an adjunct to allopathic medical care virtually worldwide. TCM therapeutics may be administered in many forms from capsules, to powders, homogenates, tinctures and decoctions. Si Wu Tang, a derivative of the traditional Chinese including Formulas, is a combination of substances that may function in a synergistic manner to promote a calming effect and an amelioration of symptoms of hypertension. Such formulas are often used in TCM to treat or alleviate a wide range of the common illness and disorders of both Eastern and Western society. Reported beneficial effects include improvements in circulatory, cardiovascular, mood, endocrine metabolic and reproductive disorders. One such TCM formula commonly recommended is the Wu Cao Si Wu Tang [SWT]formula, used to treat the hypertension of obesity and a variety of other disorders. Hypertension is a key risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and is a leading cause of end-stage renal disease; over 7 million US deaths per year may be directly attributed to pathophysiologic complications resulting from poor control of blood pressure. While numerous advances in the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension have had a major impact on decreasing the overall risks and an improved management of this chronic disease, a definitive cure for all causes of hypertension has remained elusive to date. To determine the comparative effectiveness of conventional Western treatment vs. drug free Traditional Oriental Therapy for hypertension, we reviewed the data from independent studies. Wu Cao Si Wu Tang was found to be as effective as allopathic medications in controlling blood pressure in a group of moderately hypertensive patients

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Electro‐Optic Activity in Excess of 1000 pm V⁻¹ Achieved via Theory‐Guided Organic Chromophore Design

  Advanced Materials · 2021 · 93 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Materials science
  • Optoelectronics
  • Optics

  ) at 1310 nm are achieved. This is the first reported OEO material with electro-optic response larger than thin-film barium titanate.

  PublisherDOI

• Bis(4-dialkylaminophenyl)heteroarylamino donor chromophores exhibiting exceptional hyperpolarizabilities

  Journal of Materials Chemistry C · 2021-01-01 · 43 citations

  articleSenior author

  Theory-guided design enables new organic electro-optic (OEO) materials with record hyperpolarizability and high electro-optic activity.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01GM065944

  NIH · $1.1M · 2008

• NIH Grant P01GM032681

  NIH · $10.8M · 1998

Frequent coauthors

• Larry R. Dalton

  Division of Chemistry

  175 shared

• Colin Mailer

  University of Chicago

  68 shared

• Robert D. Nielsen

  ExxonMobil (United States)

  54 shared

• John B. Eastwood

  St George's, University of London

  49 shared

• B. E. Eichinger

  Medical University of Vienna

  49 shared

• L J Kinlen

  49 shared

• H. E. de Wardener

  Charing Cross Hospital

  49 shared

• J F Moorhead

  49 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Chemistry

  Vanderbilt University

  1975

• AB, Chemsitry

  Princeton University

  1967