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The research that we do in our group is highly multidisciplinary, drawing on
optics, chemistry, biological, and engineering principles. Our group is
working to unravel fundamental questions concerning the interaction of
femtosecond light pulses with molecules to induce coherent motion in
specific degrees of freedom of the molecules. We are seeking to understand
the ro-vibrational dynamics of molecules excited by femtosecond laser
pulses. Particularly, we wish to understand the limits of control over a
specific degree of freedom (e.g., one particular normal vibrational mode in
a molecule) when the excitation laser pulse drives the creation of molecular
wave packets involving many overtone levels. We are also exploring the
coupling of an excited mode to other degrees of freedom in the molecule.
This coupling should be strongly enhanced in the limit of strong overtone
excitation and for large molecules such as proteins. The temporal dynamics
of the molecular ro-vibrational wave packets that are produced in my
laboratory create fs time-scale transients in the linear and nonlinear
optical susceptibility, resulting in new fundamental dynamical effects for
the propagation of femtosecond laser pulses. The research in my laboratory
will provide a better understanding of the interaction of shaped femtosecond
laser pulses with molecules, the dynamics of their response, and the impact
of those dynamics on the propagation of electromagnetic pulses in the
molecules. Ultimately, the new knowledge of molecular control will be
applied to study and manipulate proteins with light directly in a cellular
environment. This new degree of freedom may lead to tools that help uncover
the function of many biological molecules in their natural environment.
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