Quantum control of nanochemistry

Proposed are three studies that combine new directions in quantum control theory of nanochemistry with a rich education and outreach program and a collaborative project with an experimental group. The proposed research would extend the topic of quantum control by moderately intense (below ionization thresholds), far-off resonance, coherent light from its traditional domains of physics and optics to make a tool in chemistry and material sciences with a variety of new potential applications. To that end, the research would develop new and apply existing quantum and semiclassical methods. The first study would introduce the concept of switching in the nanoscale. The proposed switch would complement the already existing supramolecular switches that have been intensively studied as a subfield of the topic of molecular machines. It would use simpler molecular systems and rely on the polarization property of laser fields. Potentially it would offer the advantage of generality. The second research direction would introduce a new approach to understanding and controlling transport nanojunctions. The approach would be applied to the particularly interesting case of graphene electrodes with a variety of new opportunities and new challenges that arise from the Dirac physics of graphene. In addition, the method would include both carrier-carrier and carrier-photon coupling within a non-Markovian framework. The third proposed research direction would introduce the concept of laser-driven reactive nanochemistry. Our approach would make use of the coordinate-dependent Stark shift to lower reaction barriers, modify the structure of transition states and facilitate passage via conical intersections. In gas phase systems, inhomogeneous fields, which vary on macroscopic size scales, have a host of applications, ranging from Stern-Gerlach experiments to atomic and molecular optics. One goal of this part of the proposed research would be to extend several of these phenomena and applications to the nanoscale. More interestingly, new applications, which are unique to the nanodomain, include nanoscale optoelectronics and nanoscale optomechanical systems.