Time Domain Study of Coherence in Solvation and the Role of Solvent in Chemical Reactions

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This award is the starter grant increment of Dr. Scherer's Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemistry. The research will develop two experimental methodologies. One is a general approach to creating phase-coherent pulse sequences. This will be the first optical analog of NMR pulse sequences. It will be used to examine the evolution of optical coherence on femtosecond timescales. The second methodology involves the direct probing of solvent responses to chemical reactions using new nonlinear spectroscopies. This involves the measurement of non-resonant solvent birefringence responses to chemical evolution during the course of a reaction. The purpose is to establish the frequencies and types of solvent motion that take place in dipolar solvation and photodissociation. %%% New methods will be developed for probing the detailed changes of structure and energy in molecules during reaction. These studies are important because they provide better understanding of how to control the outcome of chemical reactions. They may have wide application to health related and commercial chemical reactions.