Esther Tsai

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Center for Functional Nanomaterials
Bldg. 735, Room 2029
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000

(631) 344-6149
etsai@bnl.gov

Research | Education | Appointments | Publications | Highlights

Research Activities

Esther’s research aims to develop new X-ray characterization methods and advanced analysis platforms for synchrotron X-ray scattering and imaging techniques. AI/ML methods and reconstruction algorithms can be utilized for example to enhance spatial or spectral resolution, reveal chemical relevance, as well as suggest optimal experimental configuration/procedures.

As part of the partner-user program with NSLS-II, Esther provides support for users on small-angle and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) experiments at beamlines 11-BM (CMS) and 12-ID (SMI). Contact her if you have any questions!

Education

• BSEE (2009) Purdue University, USA
  • Electrical Engineering (major), Economics (minor)
• PhD (2014) Purdue University, USA
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Thesis: Optimization-Based Optical and Terahertz Imaging

Professional Appointments

• Paul Scherrer Institute (2015 - 2018), Switzerland
  • Postdoctoral research at beamline cSAXS, Swiss Light Source
  • X-ray ptychographic tomography

Selected Publications

• Barbour A, Cai YQ, Fluerasu A, et al (2023) X-Ray Scattering for Soft Matter Research at NSLS-II. Synchrotron Radiation News 36:24–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/08940886.2023.2207449
• Wentz CM, Lachmayr KK, Tsai EHR, Sita LR (2023) Rapid Phase Transitions of Thermotropic Glycolipid Quasicrystal and Frank-Kasper Mesophases: A Mechanistic Rosetta Stone. Angewandte Chemie 135:. https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.202302739
• Li W, Sidhik S, Traore B, et al (2021) Light-activated interlayer contraction in two-dimensional perovskites for high-efficiency solar cells. Nature Nanotechnology 17:45–52. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-021-01010-2
• Tsai EHR, Xia Y, Fukuto M, Loo Y-L, Li R (2021) Grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction tomography for characterizing organic thin films. Journal of Applied Crystallography. doi: 10.1107/s1600576721007184
• Hassenkam T, Tsai EHR, Sørensen HO, Dalby KN, Mackenzie DMA, Holler M, Ferreira D, Grolimund D, Bruns S, Rosing MT (2021) Direct evidence for eoarchean iron metabolism? Geobiology 19:218–227. doi: 10.1111/gbi.12432
• Gu K, Wang Y, Li R, Tsai E, Onorato JW, Luscombe CK, Priestley RD, Loo Y-L (2020) Role of Postdeposition Thermal Annealing on Intracrystallite and Intercrystallite Structuring and Charge Transport in Poly(3-hexylthiophene). ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 13:999–1007. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c16676
• Leniart AA, Pula P, Tsai EHR, Majewski PW (2020) Large-Grained Cylindrical Block Copolymer Morphologies by One-Step Room-Temperature Casting. Macromolecules 53:11178–11189. doi: 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c02026
• Levine AM, Bu G, Biswas S, Tsai EHR, Braunschweig AB, Nannenga BL (2020) Crystal structure and orientation of organic semiconductor thin films by microcrystal electron diffraction and grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering. Chemical Communications 56:4204–4207. doi: 10.1039/d0cc00119h
• Tran HT, Tsai EHR, Lewis AJ, Moors T, Bol JGJM, Rostami I, Diaz A, Jonker AJ, Guizar-Sicairos M, Raabe J, Stahlberg H, van de Berg WDJ, Holler M, Shahmoradian SH (2020) Alterations in Sub-Axonal Architecture Between Normal Aging and Parkinson's Diseased Human Brains Using Label-Free Cryogenic X-ray Nanotomography. Frontiers in Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2020.570019
• Tsai EHR, Marone F, Guizar-Sicairos M (2019) Gridrec-MS: an algorithm for multi-slice tomography. Optics Letters 44:2181. doi: 10.1364/ol.44.002181
• Tsai EHR, Billaud J, Sanchez DF, Ihli J, Odstrcil M, Holler M, Grolimund D, Villevieille C, Guizar-Sicairos M (2019) Correlated X-Ray 3D Ptychography and Diffraction Microscopy Visualize Links between Morphology and Crystal Structure of Lithium-Rich Cathode Materials. iScience 11:356–365. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2018.12.028
• Holler M, Guizar-Sicairos M, Tsai EHR, Dinapoli R, Müller E, Bunk O, Raabe J, Aeppli G (2017) High-resolution non-destructive three-dimensional imaging of integrated circuits. Nature 543:402–406. doi: 10.1038/nature21698
• Tsai EHR, Usov I, Diaz A, Menzel A, Guizar-Sicairos M (2016) X-ray ptychography with extended depth of field. Optics Express 24:29089. doi: 10.1364/oe.24.029089

Research Highlights

Four Brookhaven Scientists Receive Early Career Research Awards (2023)

The Mystery of the Flexible Shell (2021)

Machine Learning Accelerates High-Resolution X-ray Imaging (2020) 

CFN Staff Spotlight: Esther Tsai Brings Expertise in X-ray Imaging (2019)

[User Science] First Long-Lived Perovskite Solar Cells Developed (L Loo, Princeton, 2022) 

[User Science] Solar Energy Collectors Grown From Seeds (A Mohite, Rice University, 2021) 

[User Science] At the Interface of Organic Chemistry and Nanotechnology with Adam Braunschweig (CUNY, 2020)