Moved to: Department of Chemistry MC 111, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 West Taylor Street,
Chicago, IL 60607, USA; e-mail: pkral@uic.edu, Tel: (312) 996-6318, FAX: (312) 996 0431.


Dr. Petr Král
Department of Chemical Physics
Weizmann Institute of Science
76100 Rehovot, ISRAEL

Tel: 972 (8) 9342012
Fax: 972 (8) 9344123
E-mail: kral@weizmann.ac.il

    Research interests:
  • Electronical Transport in Molecular Wires,
    Nanotubes and Low Dimensional Solids
  • Photo-induced Complete Population Transfer
    in Molecular Systems
  • Biophysical phenomena
 
Curriculum Vitae

2003-2004: Research Associate, University of British Columbia, Canada
2002-2004: visiting scientist, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
2000-2002 (6 months): visiting scientist ITAMP, Harvard University, USA
1999-2001: postdoctoral fellow, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
1997-1998: postdoctoral fellow, University of Toronto, Canada
1996-1997: NATO/Royal Society fellow, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
1989-1995: Ph.D., research assistant, Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
1987-1988: research assistant, Academy of Sciences and Palacky University, Czech Republic
1986: BSc., MSc., Czech Technical University, Czech Republic
Research projects

We study electron transport in solid-state systems, nanotubes, molecular wires and other molecular systems. The studied phenomena cover photo-excitation, ac/dc conductivity, hot-electron ultrafast dynamics, tunneling and relaxation. We use ab-initio data for the electronic structures and describe the transport by various techniques, including density matrix and nonequilibrium Green functions.

We have investigated a number of effects in C and BN nanotubes. In particular, current injection by one or two laser beams, and by friction in liquids, polarizability and piezoelectricity, image states, nanotube spinning and coalescent welding. We are also looking into possible applications of these and other systems in biology.

Recently, we have also studied adiabatic complete passage techniques in molecular systems. We have discovered the possibility of performing optically enantio-selective switching, formulated an analytic solution of the non-degenerate quantum control problem and described new quantum coding machines.
Selected Publications

P. Král, I. Thanopulos and M. Shapiro, Quantum-field Coherent Control: Production of Broken-symmetry Entangled States submitted.  

D. Segal, P. Král and M. Shapiro, Ultraslow Relaxation of Angular Momenta in Tubular Image States, submitted.  

D. Segal, B. E. Granger, H. R. Sadeghpour, P. Král and M. Shapiro,
Image State Bands above Suspended Arrays of Linear Conductors, Phys. Rev. Lett. (2005)  

D. Gerbasi, P. Brumer, I. Thanopulos, P. Král and M. Shapiro,
Theory of the two step enantiomeric purification of 1,3 dimethylallene,
J. Chem. Phys. 120, 11557 (2004),   Virtual Journal of Ultrafast Science Vol. 3, Issue 7,  

P. Král and M. Shapiro, Quantum coding and decoding in multi-level adiabatic passage schemes,
Chem. Phys. Lett. 393, 488 (2004).  

D. Segal, P. Král and M. Shapiro, Electric and magnetic-field tuning of tubular image states above suspended nanowires, Chem. Phys. Lett. 392, 314 (2004).  

D. Segal, P. Král and M. Shapiro, Shaping of detached image states above suspended nanowires,
Phys. Rev. B 69, 153405 (2004).   Virt. Jour. Nano. Sci. & Technol. Vol. 9, Issue 16,  

I. Thanopulos, P. Král and M. Shapiro, Complete Control of Population Transfer between Clusters of Degenerate States, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 11003 (2004).   Virtual Journal of Ultrafast Science Vol. 3, Issue 4,  

P. Král, Control of catalytic activity of proteins in vivo by nanotube ropes excited with infrared light,
Chem. Phys. Lett. 382, 399 (2003).  

P. Král, I. Thanopulos, M. Shapiro and D. Cohen, Two-Step Enantio-selective Optical Switch,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 033001 (2003).  

P. Král, Nanoscale processing by adaptive laser pulses,
Phys. Rev. B 66, 241401R (2002).   Virt. Jour. Nano. Sci. & Technol. Vol. 6, Issue 25,  

B. E. Granger, P. Král, H. R. Sadeghpour and M. Shapiro, Highly-extended Image States around Nanotubes,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 135506 (2002).   PRL cover storry  

P. Král, Z. Amitay and M. Shapiro, Analytic Solution of the Non-Degenerate Quantum Control Problem,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 063002 (2002).   Virtual Journal of Ultrafast Science Vol. 1, Issue 3,  

P. Král and M. Shapiro, Complete adiabatic passage to arbitrarily sculpted superposition states,
Phys. Rev. A 65, 043413 (2002).  

P. Král and H. R. Sadeghpour, Laser Spinning of Nanotubes: A path to fast-rotating microdevices,
Phys. Rev. B 65, 161401(R) (2002),   Virt. Jour. Nano. Sci. & Technol. Vol. 5, Issue 16,   Science-News-Week  

E. J. Mele and P. Král, Electric Polarization of Heteropolar Nanotubes as a Geometric Phase,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 , 056803 (2002).  

P. Král and M. Shapiro, Cyclic Population Transfer in Quantum Systems with Broken Symmetry,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 87 , 183002 (2001) . 

P. Král, J. Firuásek and M. Shapiro, Competition between Electron and Hole Stimulated Raman Passage,
Phys. Rev. A 64 , 023414 (2001) . 

P. Král and M. Shapiro, Nanotube Electron Drag in Flowing Liquids,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 , 131 (2001) . 

P. Král, E. J. Mele and D. Tománek, Photogalvanic Effects in Heteropolar Nanotubes,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 1512 (2000). 

P. Král and J. E. Sipe, Quantum kinetic theory of two-beam current injection in bulk semiconductors,
Phys. Rev. B 61, 5381 (2000). 

P. Král and D. Tománek, Laser-Driven Atomic Pump, Publicity
Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 5373 (1999) . 

P. Král and A. P. Jauho, Resonant tunneling in a pulsed phonon field,
Phys. Rev. B 59, 7656 (1999) . 

P. Král, F. W. Sheard and F. F. Ouali, Hot-phonons-assisted resonant tunneling in a quantum well,
Phys. Rev. B 57, 15428 (1998) . 

P. Král, Nonequilibrium linked cluster expansion for steady-state quantum transport
Phys. Rev. B 56, 7293 (1997). 

P. Král, Generalized gradient expansions in quantum transport equations,
Jour. of Stat. Phys. 86, 1337 (1997). 

P. Král, Linearized quantum transport equations:  ac-conductance of a quantum wire with an electron-phonon interaction, Phys. Rev. B 53, 11034 (1996).  

P. Král and J. Masek, Excitation of electron wave packets in low dimensional semiconductor structures
by inhomogeneous light pulses, Acta Physica Polonica 82, 697 (1992). 

P. Král, Kerr interaction with displaced and squeezed Fock states,
Phys. Rev. A 42, 4177 (1990).  

P. Král, Displaced and squeezed Fock states,
J. Mod. Opt. 37, 889 (1990). 

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Last updated December 2001.