Structures and Dynamics at Interfaces

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In this award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Prof. Ahmed Zewail of the California Institute of Technology and his post-doctoral associates and graduate research students will continue their work on ultrafast (femtosecond-picosecond) electron diffraction (UED) and ultrafast electron crystallography (UEC) to study fundamental molecular processes -- both in the gas phase, as well as at interfaces. The principal advantage of this method is the fact that electrons interact strongly with all of the atoms in a material (no need for a chromophore or heavy atoms), and the dynamical information that is obtained directly gives the time-dependent structural information for an evolving system.Prof. Zewail and his group are developing a universal method for determining the rapid structural changes of dynamical chemical systems, by measuring the diffraction of short bursts of electrons. The ultimate aim of the research is to develop a means for determining the ultrafast structural evolution of any chemical, material or biomolecular system. The graduate students and post-doctoral researchers working on this project will gain unique experience that they will be able to apply to fields of chemistry, materials science, nanoscience, and biomolecular science.