Dr. Heisler completed his BSc (2001), MSci (2002) and PhD (2006) in Physics, at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Brazil. In 2006 he took up a short postdoctoral position at the University of São Paulo (USP – São Carlos) before moving to the University of East Anglia, early in 2007, as a Senior Research Associate in the ultrafast spectroscopy group working with Professor Steve Meech. During this time, Ismael was involved in the development of advanced ultrafast spectroscopy techniques which supported significant new findings. For example, working with a novel polarization-resolved Raman spectroscopic method the time-resolved measurement of the hydrogen-bond vibration allowed the determination of important quantities related to structure in aqueous solutions. High time resolution fluorescence techniques supported the determination of ultrafast proton transfer processes in GFP proteins and assessment of the excited state dynamics in important new molecular motors. After a short period back in Brazil, Ismael took up a scientific staff position at the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics, in Berlin. There he was involved in the development of 2D IR spectroscopy which was applied to the study of DNA and phospholipids, among other things. In 2013 Ismael returned to UEA to develop the EPSRC Ultrafast Laser Laboratory facility awarded to UEA through an EPSRC grant. In 2016 Ismael was appointed Lecturer in Ultrafast Chemical Physics at UEA.

Ismael’s research interests are in the application of cutting-edge ultrafast spectroscopy techniques that allow characterization and determination of dynamical processes in complex molecular systems and advanced materials. Ismael’s expertise covers experimental and theoretical fields including: instrument development for ultrafast time resolved fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy; 2D electronic spectroscopy; 2D IR spectroscopy; software development for instrumentation control and for data analysis using LabVIEW and Matlab. These experimental and theoretical methods have been applied to study problems in chemistry, physics and biology including molecular dynamics in aqueous solutions and other liquids, reactions in proteins, hydration structure in biological membranes and recently electronic coupling in chromophore monomers and aggregates.

I have been working with advanced ultrafast (femtosecond) time resolved experiments for more than six years. The main subject has been the investigation of the ultrafast molecular vibrational and electronic dynamics, including reactive dynamics in condensed phase, from molecular liquids to complex fluids and in confined systems. My research interests are in the application of advanced spectroscopic, optical and analytical techniques for the characterization of complex systems and advanced materials, enabling development of new science and technology in these fields.

Camargo, F. V. A., Hall, C. R., Anderson, H. L., Meech, S. R., Heisler, I. A.(2016)Time Resolved Structural Dynamics of Butadiyne-Linked Porphyrin Dimersin Structural Dynamics3. Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Valduga De Almeida Camargo, F., Anderson, H., Meech, S., Heisler, I.(2015)Full characterization of vibrational coherence in a porphyrin chromophore by two-dimensional electronic spectroscopyin The Journal of Physical Chemistry A119.pp. 95–101 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Palombo, F., Heisler, I., Hribar-Lee, B., Meech, S.(2015)Tuning the Hydrophobic Interaction: Ultrafast Optical Kerr Effect Study of Aqueous Ionene Solutionsin The Journal of Physical Chemistry A119.pp. 8900–8908 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Moca, R., Meech, S., Heisler, I.(2015)Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy of Chlorophyll a: Solvent Dependent Spectral Evolutionin The Journal of Physical Chemistry B119.pp. 8623-8630 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Camargo, F. V. A., Heisler, I. V. A., Anderson, H. L., Meech, S. R.(2015)Time-Resolved Twisting Dynamics in a Porphyrin Dimer Characterized by Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopyin The Journal of Physical Chemistry B119.pp. 14660-14667 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Conyard, J., Heisler, I. A., Browne, W. R., Feringa, B. L., Amirjalayer, S., Buma, W. J., Woutersen, S., Meech, S. R.(2014)Ultrafast Excited State Dynamics in 9,9′-Bifluorenylidenein The Journal of Physical Chemistry A118.pp. 5961-5968 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Meech, S., Laptenok, S., Heisler, I., Addison, K.(2014)Excited State Structural Dynamics in Higher Lying Electronic States: S2 State of Malachite Greenin Chemical Physics Letters607.pp. 43-46 UEA Repository(Article) Moca, R., Meech, S., Heisler, I., Valduga De Almeida Camargo, F.(2014)Two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy based on conventional optics and fast dual chopper data acquisitionin Review of Scientific Instruments85. Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Addison, K., Heisler, I. A., Conyard, J., Dixon, T., Bulman Page, P. C., Meech, S. R.(2013)Ultrafast excited state dynamics of the green fluorescent protein chromophore and its kindling fluorescent protein analoguein Faraday Discussions163.pp. 277-296 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Heisler, I. A., Mazur, K., Meech, S. R.(2013)THz Raman spectra of aqueous solutions of hydrophiles and amphiphiles Full Text(Other)Conyard, J., Addison, K., Heisler, I., Cnossen, A., Browne, W., Feringa, B., Meech, S.(2012)Ultrafast dynamics in the power stroke of a molecular rotary motorin Nature Chemistry4.pp. 547-551 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Kondo, M., Heisler, I., Stoner-Ma, D., Tonge, P., Meech, S.(2012)Ultrafast proton transfer in the green fluorescent protein: Analysing the instantaneous emission at product state wavelengthsin Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry234.pp. 21-26 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Mazur, K., Heisler, I., Meech, S.(2012)Aqueous solvation of amphiphilic solutes: concentration and temperature dependent study of the ultrafast polarisability relaxation dynamicsin Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics14.pp. 6343-6351 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Mazur, K., Heisler, I., Meech, S.(2012)Water Dynamics at Protein Interfaces: Ultrafast Optical Kerr Effect Studyin The Journal of Physical Chemistry A116.pp. 2678-2685 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Kondo, M., Heisler, I. A., Meech, S. R.(2012)Ultrafast reaction dynamics of auramine O in a cyclodextrin nanocavityin Journal of Molecular Liquids176.pp. 17-21 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Yamaguchi, S., Mazur, K., Heisler, I., Shirota, H., Tominaga, K., Meech, S.(2011)Low-frequency modes of the benzoic acid dimer in chloroform observed by the optical Kerr effectin The Journal of Chemical Physics135.pp. 134504 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Heisler, I., Mazur, K., Meech, S.(2011)Hydroxide Hydrogen Bonding: Probing the Solvation Structure through Ultrafast Time Domain Raman Spectroscopyin The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters2.pp. 1155-1160 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Mazur, K., Heisler, I., Meech, S.(2011)THz Spectra and Dynamics of Aqueous Solutions Studied by the Ultrafast Optical Kerr Effectin The Journal of Physical Chemistry B115.pp. 2563-2573 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Conyard, J., Kondo, M., Heisler, I., Jones, G., Baldridge, A., Tolbert, L. M., Solntsev, K. M., Meech, S.(2011)Chemically Modulating the Photophysics of the GFP Chromophorein The Journal of Physical Chemistry B115.pp. 1571-1577 Full Text UEA Repository(Article) Heisler, I., Mazur, K., Yamaguchi, S., Tominaga, K., Meech, S.(2011)Measuring acetic acid dimer modes by ultrafast time-domain Raman spectroscopyin Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics13.pp. 15573 Full Text UEA Repository(Article)