Research projects on Applied Physics

Current projects

1. Collision-induced spectroscopy and line shapes

   Collision-induced spectroscopy is an important mechanism for the greenhouse effect in planetary and stellar atmospheres with a small fraction of polar molecules. In these environments, short-lived molecular complexes often dominate the absorption of infrared and microwave radiation. For example, the...

2. Molecular electronics and molecules on surfaces

   Investigation of the thiol bond to gold (Au) for molecular electronics application from first principles methods.

3. Catalytic growth of carbon nanotubes

   We aim for a better understanding of the catalytic growth mechanism of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) through first principles calculation of binding energies and thus contribute to the development of the growth mechanism of CNTs with special properties. This activity was started in collaboration with Dr. ...

4. Quantum bits in quantum computers

   Nitrogen-vacancy defect for electronic and nuclear spin measurement.

5. Self-Organization and Molecular Dynamics (MD)

   Applied self-assembly monolayer (SOM) and micro-contact printing is a project co-collaboration with a colleague at the University of Limerick, Dr. Damien Thompson. This ongoing collaboration has resulted in MD simulations of molecular diffusion in liquid, guest:host interactions of β-cyclodextrin mo...

6. Radiative association

   Radiative association is one of several processes that contribute to the production of molecules in certain space environments, such as the interstellar medium and proto-planetary disks. Radiative association is particularly important in regions with a small fraction of "larger" particles (such as d...

7. 2D nanomaterials as efficient and reusable sensors

   We study atomically thin nanomaterials as potential sensors using quantum mechanical modeling of molecular adsorption. A material similar to graphene but containing carbon and nitrogen in a two-to-one ratio (C2N) is very promising as a sensor for airborne molecular pollutants and molecules in biolog...