Orienting Gas Phase Molecules
By Fallon M. Laliberte
Mentor: Vinod Kumarappan
Kansas State University
James R. MacDonald Laboratory
Welcome to my webpage! This page summarizes my experience
doing research for the summer of 2010 at Kansas State University in the lab of
Professor Kumarappan. Below, I describe my project goals, research strategy,
and research progress.
Summary
Statement
Understanding the structure
and functioning of biological molecules is crucial for shedding light on
chemical interactions and processes. Molecular structure and behavior is often
studied through a process called X-ray crystallography, where one crystallizes
the molecule and examines its structure using X-rays. However, poor resolution
may result from the crystals being too small or lacking enough uniformity. One
solution to this problem is to orient the molecules using ultra fast laser
pulses in a field free environment, and then study their structure using
velocity map imaging or other optical means.
Project
Goals
Our goal is to orient Iodobenzene molecules (C6H5I) using
both a two colored velocity map imaging (VMI) experiment, and a degenerate four
wave mixing Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy (CARS) experiment. We study
the revivals of the Iodobenzene molecules, and using a MATLAB program, predict
the optimum parameters to orient Iodobenzene.
About
Me
I am a senior physics major and philosophy minor at
the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. After I graduate
from college, I plan on continuing to graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in
either a field in physics or medical physics. In particular, I am interested in
optics and imaging.