The Experimental Physical Chemistry Program is supporting Professor Myers in the development and application of optical spectroscopic methods for studying a variety of fast photochemical reactions and for probing molecular dynamics in condensed phases. This research is supported by a Presidential Young Investigator Award. Ultraviolet resonance Raman spectroscopy is being used to measure solvent-induced spectral broadening and extract information on the range of microscopically different environments that occur in liquids, as well as the time scales on which these environments interconvert. Information will also be obtained on the dynamics of activated barrier crossings and electron tranfers. Complementary pump-probe time-resolved experiments on the picosecond and subpicosecond time scales will be used to study evolution of excited systems on time scales longer than is accessible with the resonance Raman probe.
