Shape-Shifting Molecules: Photoisomerization Action Spectroscopy

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This project aims to examine molecules that change shape in response to light in order to gain insight into the biological processes they control. Many biological systems, including the human visual apparatus and bacterial photosynthesis, depend on molecules that change shape in response to light. The project plans to probe shape-shifting molecules with laser light while they are propelled through gas by an electric field. Light-induced changes in molecular shape produce detectable variations in drift speed. The ensuing knowledge would help calibrate computational approaches for predicting molecular function. It would also establish foundations for understanding essential biological molecules, including retinals, carotenes and peptides, and for developing new light-activated molecular motors and switches.