Ruaridh Forbes

The Forbes lab develops and exploits ultrafast laser sources to understand photochemical reaction dynamics occurring on femtosecond timescales. Our lab focuses on trying to determine nuclear structures far from equilibrium and understand the flow of electronic energy through molecules during chemical reactions, with the ultimate goal of controlling chemical and biological reactions. To achieve this, we perform experiments at both state-of-the-art X-ray light sources around the globe as well as tabletop laser experiments in our laboratory at UC Davis. 

Education, Awards and Professional Highlights

• Appointed to UC Davis faculty (2024)
• Lead Scientist, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2024)
• Staff Scientist, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2022-2023)
• Associate Staff Scientist, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2021-2022)
• Project Scientist, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2020-2021)
• Stanford Pulse Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University (2019-2020)
• Visiting Ph.D student, University of Ottawa and The National Research Council of Canada (2014-2019)
• Ph.D. in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, University College London (2014-2018)
• M.S. in Chemical Physics, University of Edinburgh (2009-2014)

Representative Publications

• J. Codere, M. Belmonte, B. Kaufman, M. Wahl, E. Jones, M. G. Cohen, T.
  Weinacht and R. Forbes, “High Repetition-Rate Pulse Shaping of a Spectrally
  Broadened Yb Femtosecond Laser” Optics Continuum 3, 785 (2024)
• W. Razmus, F. Allum, J. Harries, Y. Kumagai, K. Nagaya, S. Bhattacharyya, M.
  Britton, M. Brouard, P. H. Bucksbaum, K. Cheung, S. W. Crane, M. Fushitani,
  I. Gabalski, G. Tatsuo, A. M. Ghrist, D. Heathcote, Y. Hikosaka, A. Hishikawa,
  P. Hockett, E. Jones, E. Kukk, H. Iwayama, H. V. S. Lam, J. McManus, D. Mile-
  sevic, J. Mikosch, S. Minemoto, A. Niozu, A. Orr-Ewing, S. Owada, D. Rolles, A.
  Rudenko, D. Townsend, K. Ueda, J. Unwin, C. Vallance, A. S. Venkatachalam,
  S. Wada, T. Walmsley, E. M. Warne, J. Woodhouse, M. Burt, M. N. R. Ashfold,
  R. S. Minns and R. Forbes “Exploring the ultrafast and isomer-dependent pho-
  todissociation of iodothiophenes via site-selective ionization” Phys. Chem. Chem.
  Phys. 26, 12725 (2024)
• I. Gabalski, F. Allum, I. Seidu, M. Britton, G. Brenner, H. Bromberger, M.
  Brouard, P. H. Bucksbaum, M. Burt, J. P. Cryan, T. Driver, N. Ekanayake, B.
  Erk, D. Garg, E. Gougoula, D. Heathcote, P. Hockett, D. M. P. Holland, A. J.
  Howard, S. Kumar, J. W. L. Lee, S. Li, J. McManus, J. Mikosch, D. Milesevic,
  R. S. Minns, S. Neville, A.-T.-Noor, C. C. Papadopoulou, C. Passow, W. O.
  Razmus, A. R ̈oder, A. Rouz ́ee, A. Simao, J. Unwin, C. Vallance, T. Walmsley, J.
  Wang, D. Rolles, A. Stolow, M. S. Schuurman, and R. Forbes, “Time-Resolved
  X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy: Ultrafast Dynamics in CS2 Probed at the S 2p
  Edge” J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 14, 31, 7126-7133 (2023)
• C. Cheng, L. J. Frasinski, G. Mogol, F. Allum, A. J. Howard, D. Rolles, P. H.
  Bucksbaum, M. Brouard, R. Forbes, and T. Weinacht “Multiparticle cumulant
  mapping for Coulomb explosion imaging” Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 093001 (2023)
• F. Allum, C. Cheng, A. J. Howard, P. H. Bucksbaum, M. Brouard, T. Weinacht,
  and R. Forbes, “Multi-Particle Three-Dimensional Covariance Imaging:“Coincidence”
  Insights into the Many-Body Fragmentation of Strong-Field Ionized D2O”, J.
  Phys. Chem. Lett. 12, 8302 (2021)