Physical Chemistry
Physical chemical research in the Chemistry Department ranges from the development of analytical methods for environmental contaminants and biomaterials to measurement of the ultrafast reactions of excited molecules in the gas and fluid phases, with a strong emphasis on spectroscopic methods.
Associated Faculty
Rosina Georgiadis
Physical and analytical chemistry of interfaces
Development and application of in-situ optical surface spectroscopies
(especially surface plasmon resonance and surface Raman) to investigate
fundamental physical and chemical processes at solid/liquid interfaces.
Current projects relate to molecular and biopolymer adsorption, self
assembly and film formation, DNA/DNA and DNA/drug binding at interfaces,
biocorrosion studies, electropolymerization of conducting polymer films
and electric field effects at biomaterial interfaces.
Alfred Prock
Quantitative analysis of ligand effects
My research (with Warren giering) involves establishing the stereoelectronic
parameters of ligands (phosphines, silanes,...) that find application
mainly in organometallic chemistry, using the methodology we call the
Quantitative analysis of Ligand Effects (QALE). These parameters are
then used to correlate virtually any set of properties (reaction rate,
enantiomeric excess, etc.) involving these ligands with the goal of predicting
from only a few measurements which ligand will produce the maximum desired
effect.
Molecular level understanding of complex chemical and biological systems
The research aim of the Reinhard Laboratory is to develop materials and methods that will advance our understanding of complex chemical and biological systems on a molecular level. One objective of the research is to gain better understanding of the properties and mode of operations of enzymes and complex molecular machines that govern fundamental life processes. The second objective is to develop new and useful products from these "nanotechnologies". The Group combines engineered nanomaterials and selfassembled biological components into useful devices for applications in sensing, biocatalysis and synthesis.
Lawrence Ziegler
Ultrafast spectroscopy
Work in our laboratory is centered on the development and application
of ultrafast, femtosecond laser techniques for the study of nuclear motions
and electronic relaxation processes in a variety of materials. The structure
and dynamics of liquids and biopolymers, surface enhanced femtosecond
spectroscopy and femtosecond photochemistry are all areas of current
interest.
Associated Graduate Courses
The following graduate courses in the specialization area of photochemistry are offered:
GRS CH 551 - Chemical Dynamics
Prereq: CAS CH 352 or equivalent. Reaction kinetics and mechanisms. Experimental methods including fast techniques. Theories of reaction dynamics. Mechanisms of electron transfer, energy transfer, catalysis, enzyme reactions. Photochemistry, photophysics, radiation chemistry, free radical reactions. Three hours lecture. 4 cr, either sem.
GRS CH 651/652 - Molecular Quantum Mechanics
Prereq: CAS CH 351, CH 352, or equivalent. Suggested coreq: GRS CH 654. Introduction to quantum theory, atomic and molecular structure, spectroscopy. The chemical bond; Born-Oppenheimer approximation; electronic, vibrational, and rotational motion in molecules. NMR, ESR, microwave, IR, raman, visible, UV spectroscopy, computational ab initio methods for analyzing molecular structure and spectroscopy. Three hours lecture, two hours discussion. Coker, Ziegler. 4 cr, 1st & 2nd sem.
GRS CH 653 - Molecular Spectroscopy
Prereq: GRS CH 652 or equivalent. Theory of electromagnetic radiation-matter interactions; linear and nonlinear molecular spectroscopy, time and frequency domain spectroscopic techniques; molecular responses and dielectric relaxation processes; theory of NMR, ESR, microwave, IR, Raman, visible, and UV spectroscopies; computational methods. Ziegler. 4 cr, either sem.
GRS CH 654 - Methods of Chemical Physics
Prereq: consent of instructor. Vector calculus with applications; Fourier series and Fourier integral with applications, and function of a complex variable with applications; also Green's function methods, theory of linear vector spaces, and solutions of eigen function problems. Same as CAS PY 355, with extra discussion. Staff. 4 cr, either sem.
GRS CH 752 - Advanced Topics in Chemical Physics
Prereq: GRS CH 652. Current topics of research in theoretical, computational, and experimental chemical physics. Content varies with the instructor but may include material from such areas as advanced methods in molecular spectroscopy and magnetic resonance, nonlinear laser-induced phenomena, and photoionization and electron-molecule scattering. Coker, Keyes, Straub, Ziegler. 4 cr, either sem.
GRS PY 502 - Computational Physics
Prereq: consent of instructor. Fundamental methods of computational physics
and applications; numerical algorithms; linear algebra, differential
equations; computer simulation; vectorization, parallelism, and optimization.
Examples and projects on scientific applications. Rebbi. 4 cr, 1st
sem.
CAS PY 521 - Electromagnetic Theory I
Prereq: CAS PY 405. Vector and tensor analysis. Electrostatics, uniqueness, electrostatic energy, capacitance. Boundary value problems, conformal mapping, variable separation, Green's functions. Multipole expansion, electric polarization, atomic models, anisotropic media. Contour integration and application to frequency-dependent dielectric constant. Dielectrics, electrostatic energy, boundary value problems. Ahlen. 4 cr., 1st sem.
CAS PY 522 - Electromagnetic Theory II
Prereq: CAS PY 521. Continuation of CAS PY 521. Magnetostatics, dipole moment, magnetic materials, boundary value problems. Electromagnetic induction, magnetic energy, Maxwell's equations. Electromagnetic waves in materials, reflection, refraction. Waveguides. Scattering and diffraction. Special relativity, Lorentz transformation, covariant electrodynamics. Interaction of charges with matter. Radiation, Lienard-Wiechert potential, synchrotron radiation, antennas. 4 cr., 2nd sem.
ENG SC 560 - Introduction to Photonics
ENG SC 570 - Lasers and Applications