Postdoctoral positions are available in the group of Professor Hanna Reisler at the University of Southern California to study photoinitiated reactions in the gas and condensed phases:
- Imaging studies of vibrational predissociation dynamics of hydrogen-bonded complexes using velocity map imaging. Current studies are focused on the role of water in dimers of molecules relevant to biological function, such as the phenol-water dimer. A review article that summarizes recent progress is: A. K. Samanta,Y. Wang, J. S. Mancini, J. M. Bowman,and H. Reisler, Chem. Rev. 116, 4913 (2016).
- Experimental and theoretical studies of photodissociation dynamics of molecular species important in atmospheric chemistry and combustion. These molecular beam studies exploit photoion and photoelectron imaging for product detection. Current research is focused on the generation and dissociation of carbenes. Relevant papers describing UV and IR induced dissociation mechanisms of the hydroxymethyl radical are: C. Rodrigo, C. Zhou, and H. Reisler, J. Phys. Chem. A117, 1204 (2013), and M. Ryazanov, C. Rodrigo and H. Reisler, J. Chem. Phys.136, 084305 (2012).
- Photoinitiated dynamics in amorphous solid water via nanoimprint lithography. In this collaborative project with Professor Curt Wittig, a novel approach to studying reactions in the condensed phase is implemented by using pulsed heating of gold nanoparticles to initiate reactions in adsorbed layers of ice water doped with organic and inorganic molecules. These processes are relevant to icy bodies in the solar system. Experiments are carried out under UHV conditions using laser excitation for heating, and FTIR and time-of-flight mass spectroscopies. The approach is described in: C. Larson, Y.R. Li, W. Wu, H. Reisler, and C. Wittig, J. Phys. Chem. A 121, 4968 (2017).
Further information about the research can be found in our group’s homepage: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~reisler. Interested candidates with prior experience in laser techniques and molecular dynamics and spectroscopy should send their resume, and also have two letters of recommendation sent to:
Professor Hanna Reisler, Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0482; email: reisler@usc.edu.
GEFAM 