Department of Chemical Physics
Shimon Vega, Head
Research in the Department covers a broad spectrum of topics, including many subjects of current interest in chemistry and physics. Areas of research include theoretical studies of turbulence, the physics of fractals, properties of glass, chaos (classical and quantum mechanical), tunneling and dissipative phenomena, kinetics, and dynamics in surface condensed phases and ultrafast processes. Other areas include experimental and theoretical diffusion studies of the interaction of coherent light with matter, nonlinear optics, laser-induced processes in van der Waals molecules, coherent control of chemical reactions, cooling of molecules and theoretical quantum optics in dispersive media and in microcavities. A different area of active research is the study of the structure and properties of large molecular systems, and the interaction of electrons and molecules with organized thin films. Molecules on semiconductor surfaces are studied by combination of lasers and STM. A strong magnetic resonance group is active within the department, working on fields such as solid state NMR, MASS NMR of semiconductors, liquid crystals and proteins, porous materials, as well as pulsed EPR and electron-nuclear double resonance on metalloenzymes and porous solids. The department encourages interdisciplinary approaches to science, and there is much collaboration among members of the department and scientists and students from other faculties such as physics and the life sciences.
Atomic and molecular wave packets, ultra-fast optical phenomena.
Laser control of molecular orientation.
Manipulation of atoms and molecules by laser fields, laser cooling, atom lithography.
Development of new methods in nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging analysis.
Application of novel magnetic resonance methods to the study of new materials, bioinorganic metal-binding processes, liquid crystalline phases.
Study of mesoporous and microporous materials by pulsed EPR/ENDOR.
Studies of the structure of paramagnetic active sites in metalloenzymes and model compounds by pulsed ESR and pulse ENDOR.
High field EPR/ENDOR spectroscopy.
Theoretical studies and modelling of the physics that determines the properties and dynamics of biological membranes of cells.
Modelling the dyanmics of cell shapes, motion and reaction to physics and chemical stimuli.
Research of collective quantum effects in Super-fluid, solid and super-solid Helium. Including magnetic phase transitions in solid and liquid helim.
The physics of large scale pattern formation on cells and in cellular cultures.
Protein folding studied on the level of the individual molecule.
G. Haran, Devarajan Thirumalai (University of Maryland), Lynne Regan (Yale University)Single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy of the mechanism of action of molecular chaperones
G. Haran, Amnon HorovitzSingle-molecule Raman spectroscopy as a probe of surface dynamics
Single-molecule studies of protein conformational dynamics, diffusion and association
G. Haran, Gideon SchreiberSingle-molecule studies of the interaction of HIV proteins with the T-cell receptor
G. Haran, Yechiel Shai, Daniella Goldfarb
G. Kurizki
Quantum optics of cold atoms .
Superluminal effects in optics.
Quantum and nonlinear optics in photonic band gap structures.
Control of quantum states and decoherence.
Molecular controlled semiconductor electronic devices.
Electronic and magnetic properties of organized organic thin films
R. Naaman, Zeev Vager, Dep. of Particle PhysicsMolecular electronics
R. Naaman, David Cahen, Mordechai ShevesElectron transmission through organized organic thin films.
Penetration of electrons through chiral molecular monolayers
R. Naaman, Zeev Vager, Dep. of Particle PhysicsCoherent control of electron transmission through organized organic layers
R. Naaman, Yaron Zilberberg, Dep. of Complex Matter PhysicsInteraction of electrons with DNA and membranes
Quantum Molecular Dynamics and Structure
- Real time quantum Monte Carlo methods
- Molecular spectroscopy
- Molecular reaction dynamics
- Electron transfer processes
- Molecular dynamics on surfaces
Alignment and orientation of atoms and molecules in strong laser fields.
Y. Prior, Ilya AverbukhStrong field nonlinear optics.
Molecular Dynamics with ultrashort shaped femtosecond pulses.
femtosecond laser material processing
Turbulence.
Fractals and scaling in nonequilibrium physics.
Failure in Amorphuos Media: fracture, shear bands and necking.
Mechanical properties of amorphus solids with theory of plasticity
The glass transition and slow relaxation phenomena
Quantum theory of elementary exchange reactions, quantum chaos and intramolecular dynamics.
Quantum information and computing.
Control of chemical reactions using coherent light, experiments on coherent control with nonlinear optics.
Theory of photodissociation and photo recombination processes, theory of laser catalysis, strong field effects.
D. Tannor
Control of chemical reactions with tailored femtosecond pulses.
Laser cooling of molecules.
Quantum theory of dissipation and chemical reactions in solution.
Semiclassical theory of reactive scattering.
S. Vega
solid state NMR of bioorganic materials
Proton NMR Spectroscopy of Solids
Molecular mobility of solutions in mesoporous materials