Eric Arsenault

Research

The Arsenault Lab develops ultrafast multidimensional spectroscopies to uncover how the interaction of energy and charge with complex nanoscale environments dictates behavior—from proteins to quantum materials. In pursuit of this understanding, our work bridges chemistry, physics, biophysics, and materials science. The methods we employ push the frontier of experimental capability, enabling the direct mapping of electronic, vibrational, and vibronic correlations across energy, length, and time scales. These approaches allow us to uniquely probe the multiscale dynamical processes that drive transformations such as light-to-chemical energy conversion in photosynthetic systems and the emergence of new quasiparticles and phases of matter in quantum materials. Our research program aims to establish mechanistic frameworks to understand and ultimately inform the design of solar conversion sources, functionally engineered proteins, and advanced-generation devices.

Education

Junior Fellow - Simons Society of Fellows, Columbia University, 2022-2025
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2021
B.A., Wesleyan University, 2017

Honors

• Scialog Fellow, Quantum Matter and Information, 2025
• Simons Society of Fellows - Junior Fellowship, 2022-2025
• Best Paper Prize, 22nd International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena, 2020
• National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 2019-2021
• Berkeley Fellowship for Graduate Study, 2017-2019 
• The Wallace C. Pringle Prize for Research in Chemistry, 2017
• Karl van Dyke Prize, 2017
• Martius Yellow Award in Chemistry, 2017
• Siver Scholarship in Physics, 2017

Selected Publications

E. A. Arsenault, Y. Li, B. Yang, T. Taniguchi, K. Watanabe, J. C. Hone, C. R. Dean, X. Xu, and X.-Y. Zhu, “Time-Domain Signatures of Distinct Correlated Insulators in a Moiré Superlattice,” Nat. Commun., 16, 549 (2025). 

E. A. Arsenault, Y. Li, B. Yang, X. Wang, H. Park, E. Mosconi, E. Ronca, T. Taniguchi, K. Watanabe, D. Gamelin, A. Millis, C. R. Dean, F. de Angelis, X. Xu, and X.-Y. Zhu, “Two-Dimensional Moiré Polaronic Electron Crystals,” Phys. Rev. Lett., 132, 126501 (2024). 

S.-J. Yang, E. A. Arsenault, K. Orcutt, Y. Yoneda, M. Iwai, and G. R.  Fleming, “From antenna to reaction center: Pathways of ultrafast energy and charge transfer in photosystem II,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.,119, e2208033119 (2022).

E. A. Arsenault, Y. Yoneda, M. Iwai, K. K. Niyogi, and G. R. Fleming, “The role of mixed vibronic Q_y-Q_x  states in green light absorption of light-harvesting complex II,” Nat. Commun., 11, 6011 (2020).

E. A. Arsenault, Y. Yoneda, M. Iwai, K. K. Niyogi, and G. R. Fleming, “Vibronic mixing enables ultrafast energy flow in light-harvesting complex II,” Nat. Commun., 11, 1460 (2020).