Our experiments are spectroscopic in nature. This means that we work with lasers and make use of the absorption and emission of this laser light to investigate the molecular details of chemical reactions.

Vibrations

The general idea behind all of our experiments is very simple: Chemical reactions break bonds between atoms in a molecule. Before the bond breaks, it must be elongated first. Now, if we get the molecule to vibrate along a coordinate that corresponds to this elongation (the "reaction coordinate") before we start the reaction, we will weaken the bond and hence facilitate the reaction. Our experiments focus on how effectively this vibrational excitation promotes a reaction and whether certain types of vibration can force a reaction to proceed in the way we choose.

Variations

However, this focus on vibrations is about the only thing the experiments in the four labs within the group have in common. The reaction could be a photodissociation, photoisomerization or a bimolecular reaction; the reaction could happen in a low pressure gas, a molecular beam, in solution, or within a cryogenic matrix. Click on a link to one of the labs to learn more about the experiments performed within.