Theory paper published

Our theory paper that derives the electronic-vibrational response functions to model energy transfer in a molecular dimer, and proposes a method to extract both excitonic and site populations from 2D electronic-vibrational spectra has been published in the Journal of Chemical Physics. The paper can be read online for free, here.

Royal Society Press Release

The Royal Society have issued a press release announcing this year’s Royal Society University Research Fellows, for which I am one of the 38 recipients. The fellowship is very prestigious, and the competition is across all scientific disciplines, with a success rate of 8% this year. I take up my post at the University of Bristol, in the School of Chemistry on 1st October.

From the press release: “The University Research Fellowship scheme aims to provide outstanding scientists, who have the potential to become leaders in their chosen fields, with the opportunity to build an independent research career. The scheme is extremely competitive and URFs are expected to be strong candidates for permanent posts in universities at the end of their fellowships.”

You can view the full statement here.

Carotenoid paper accepted!

My paper detailing the complex non-radiative relaxation dynamics of β-apo-8′-carotenal (bapo) in acetonitrile and cyclohexane solutions has been accepted into the Journal of Physical Chemistry B. My work allows us to definitively rule out any excited state trans-cis isomerisation in the ultrafast relaxation pathways of bapo, and lineshapes in 2D electronic-vibrational (2DEV) spectra allow for a more rigorous assignment of the excited state vibrations of bapo in acetonitrile. Further, the electronic and vibrational lineshapes in 2DEV spectra remain correlated for longer than the S2 lifetime, indicating that the transfer of molecules to the S1 state is impulsive, and involves a conical intersection in the vertical Franck-Condon region.

This article is available online now here.

Royal Society University Research Fellowship Success!

I am delighted to announce some very good news I received one month ago. I was successful in my application for the one of the prestigious Royal Society University Research Fellowships. I will take up my position on 1st October 2015 in the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol, in the United Kingdom. My proposal seeks to investigate the role of delocalized excited states in the initial steps of DNA photo-protection, and the underlying fundamental molecular mechanisms underlying solar light harvesting in photovoltaic materials. Both aspects of my research will involve using existing or developing new multidimensional optical spectroscopies.

Two theory papers accepted!

2DEV theory Our two theory papers modelling correlated electronic and vibrational dynamics have just been accepted into The Journal of Chemical Physics. These papers detail the static and dynamic correlations between electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom evident in 2D electronic-vibrational spectra. The papers advance our understanding of the information content we can extract from the new spectroscopic technique that we recently developed. The pair of papers will be appear online and in-print shortly.