A Theoretical Study of Adsorbate Mobility and Quantum Dynamics Induced by Excitation with Short Laser Pulses

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Professor Horia Metiu is supported by a grant from the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry Program to perform theoretical simulations of silicon growth on surfaces and time dependent quantum theoretical treatments of the effects of ultrashort laser pulses on molecular solutes. In the first area of research, Metiu will use correlation function theory to calculate the rates of all the elementary kinetic steps involved in the epitaxial growth process: the sticking of atoms to the surface, their jumps from one surface site to another, the dependence of the jumping rate on local configuration of adsorbed atoms, and the final sites involved in the jump. These rates will be used in a kinetic Monte Carlo program to simulate the kinetics of epitaxial growth of silicon. In the second area of research, Metiu will develop methods capable of analyzing the results of novel experiments with ultrashort pulses which are used to probe the dynamics of solute molecules. He will also explore the theoretical consequences of coherence and interference in generating laser signals that are very sensitive to the quantum dynamics. %%% This research will provide an important molecular level understanding of epitaxial growth on semiconductor surfaces and of techniques for laser control of chemical processes in solution.