Georgia Institute of Technology

Research in physical chemistry at Georgia Tech is highly recognized worldwide and spans a wide range of fundamental studies through which we seek to provide understanding of the properties of molecules, nanoparticles,and materials and to exploit this knowledge for applications in technologies. Major theoretical research activities in physical chemistry being pursued include quantum chemical calculations of electronic and optical properties of molecules and materials, the energetics of intermolecular interactions, and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and dynamics calculations that are being developed for multiple-time-and-length scales and applied to complex processes, such as the folding of proteins.  

Frontier experimental research emphasis areas include ultrafast spectroscopic studies of excited-state dynamics and of energy and electron transfer processes in molecular polymers, synthetic polymers and biopolymers and nanoparticle systems; development of ion trap devices for quantum computing; nonequilibrium reactions at surfaces activated by electrons or photons; kinetics of reactions of importance in atmospheric chemistry; studies of size-structure-property relationships for nanostructured materials;  development and use of imaging and sensing probes to understand living cells; and studies of nonlinear optical properties of molecular and polymeric materials for optical information processing. Theoretical and experimental studies in physical chemistry can impact technologies for energy, displays, ultrahigh bandwidth telecommunications, nanoelectronics, sensing, and biomedical imaging.