Physical Chemistry Seminar: Professor Balakrishnan Naduvalath, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Physical Chemistry Seminar: Professor Balakrishnan Naduvalath, University of Nevada Las Vegas (Host: Dick Zare)
"Quantum Engineered Chemistry"
About the Seminar
A central goal in chemistry is the absolute control of quantum states of both reactants and products. This is not achievable at normal temperatures due to a thermal population of internal quantum states. By cooling atoms and molecules to temperatures close to absolute zero and confining them in electromagnetic traps controlled chemistry experiments can be performed between trapped atoms and molecules in the deep quantum regime. This allows unprecedented level of control over initial quantum states, molecular orientation, and even final states in certain cases. I will discuss recent theoretical progress in describing chemical reactions and molecular interactions in this regime and the prospects and challenges ultracold molecules offer in uncovering many aspects of chemistry that are yet to be revealed at its most fundamental level.
About the Speaker
Dr. Balakrishnan Naduvalath is Professor of Chemistry at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He received BS (1985) and MS (1987) in Chemistry from University of Calicut (India) and PhD in Theoretical Chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (1993). He carried out postdoctoral research at University of Copenhagen, Denmark (1993-1996) with Professor Gert Billing and at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (1996-2001) with Professor Alex Dalgarno. He moved to UNLV in 2002 as an Assistant Professor in Chemistry and was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 2006 and to full Professor in 2011. He has authored/co-authored about 140 peer-reviewed research publications and six book chapters. His research interests are directed to the description of atomic and molecular collisions and chemical reaction dynamics in overlapping areas of Chemistry, Physics and Astrophysics with recent emphasis on reactions of trapped molecules at cold and ultracold temperatures. He received the UNLV College of Sciences Distinguished Researcher Award in 2007 and became an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2009. Naduvalath serves as a Review Editor for the Open Access Journal Frontiers in Physical Chemistry and Chemical Physics as well as frequent reviewer for national and international scientific funding agencies and peer-reviewed publications.