Margaret Murnane

Margaret Murnane is a Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a fellow at JILA. Her research focuses on ultrafast laser science, attosecond physics, and the development of coherent x-ray sources. She leads efforts to apply these technologies to study electron dynamics in molecules and materials, nanoscale heat transport, and magnetic phenomena. Her group pioneers techniques like extreme ultraviolet scatterometry and vector ptychography for advanced nanoscale metrology.

Her educational background includes a focus on physics and optics, though specific degree details are not provided. Research highlights include the creation of tabletop attosecond pulse sources and their application in observing ultrafast spin dynamics in materials. Her lab develops mid-infrared lasers and hollow-core fibers for high-harmonic generation.

Key research themes include:

• High-harmonic generation for coherent x-ray production
• Ultrafast electron dynamics imaging
• Multimodal EUV reflectometry systems
• Topological magnetic structure visualization
• Quantum materials spectroscopy

Recent work advances EUV-based nanoscale metrology for semiconductor manufacturing and explores light-matter interactions at attosecond timescales. Her instrumentation innovations include compact extreme ultraviolet reflectometers and advanced ptychography algorithms.