"Adventures on the left-hand side of the Schrodinger Equation"

Speaker: 
Ara Apkarian
Institution: 
UC Irvine, Dept. of Chemistry
Date: 
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Time: 
3:30 pm
Location: 
RH 101
 

 
ABSTRACT:  
 
The vision of the Center for Chemistry at the Space-Time Limit (CaSTL) is to reach joint Å-fs spatiotemporal resolution of relevance to chemistry. The paradigm is a shift to the LHS of the t-dependent Schrodinger Equation, where space and time reside. I will give illustrative examples from recent demonstrations, e.g., quantum tomography of a molecular bond, spin-vibronic motion of one electron, the preparation and interrogation of one molecule in a vibrational superposition state, the breaking and remaking of a bond in a single molecule. To reach the required sensitivity, we often rely on inelastic light scattering (Raman) mediated through plasmonic nanoantennas. The spectroscopy allows characterization of not only the molecules, but also the plasmons. For example, we see chiral plasmons on gold nanosphere dimers, i.e., on the nanosclae version of the Hertzian “dipolar” antenna; and this has important consequences and applications in nano-optics and beyond. 
 

 

Host: 
Peter Taborek