This is a Presidential Young Investigator award for support of Professor Eric Mazur in his "Optical Studies of Molecules and Condensed Matter." The goals of this research are to understand the dynamics of highly vibrationally excited molecules, and of macroscopic non-equilibrium phenomena in fluids, and to explore applications of laser-induced molecular processes. These processes will be studied using laser excitation of molecules at picosecond time resolution with spectral resolution to study single rotational and vibrational states. He will also perform light scattering studies of liquid interfaces to study interfacial tension near the critical temperatures. He will also study liquid-vapor interfaces.
