Chemistry at Ultralow Temperatures using Superfluid Helium Droplets:

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

In this project, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Prof. Roger E. Miller of the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill will conduct experiments with his undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral research students to study a wide variety of chemical systems confined to cold helium droplets. The nature of the cold droplets allows Miller and his group to study a wide range of chemically interesting systems that would be difficult or impossible to study by other means. Included in these studies will be continued studies of hydrogen-bonded systems, highly reactive radical molecule complexes, metal and semiconductor clusters, and small biomolecules. Additional experiments will be performed with a powerful infrared pump laser to investigate intramoleuclar rearrangements and bimolecular reactions. The results from these very basic studies will be applicable to a wide variety of disciplines from nanoscience to biophysics. Besides the broader impact of the research that will be performed, students trained in the Miller group are given a very broad training across many scientific disciplines.