Michael Kellman is supported by a grant from the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry Program to investigate the dynamics of highly excited vibrational states of small molecules. These studies are important in furthering our understanding of laser excitation of gas phase molecular species. Kellman has also developed new analytical methods which will help to assign the complex spectra of molecules in highly excited vibrational states. Kellman's research is divided into three major efforts: 1) The development of new visualization techniques which are useful in the semiclassical interpretation of experimental spectra; 2) The analysis of spectral patterns and signatures of phase structures which are present in complex spectra; and 3) An extended study of multidimensional phase space dynamics which will be used to search for the existence of pathways for controlled excitation of enhanced reactivity.
