Takamasa Momose

Professor

Office: Chemistry A327
Office Phone: 604-822-5401

FAX: (604) 822-2847
Email: momose@chem.ubc.ca

Curriculum Vitae: B.Sc, Kyoto University, Japan (1984); Ph.D., Kyoto University, Japan (1991); Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Chicago (T. Oka, 1991-93); Research Associate, Kyoto University (1988-93); Lecturer, Kyoto University (1993-95); Associate Professor of Chemistry, Kyoto University, (1995-2005); PRESTO fellow, Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST) (1998-2001); Associate Professor, Fukui Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Kyoto University, (Joint Appointment, 2003-2005); Professor, UBC (2005 -); The Chemical Society of Japan Young Chemists Award (1995)

Physical/Astronomical: High-resolution infrared and visible spectroscopy; laser spectrosopy; low temperature chemistry; tunneling reactions; making cold molecules; quantum computation; observation of interstellar molecules using telescopes

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Research/Teaching Interests

Research in Professor Momose's group is focused on elucidating properties and dynamics of extremely cold molecules by high-resolution spectroscopy. Molecules at very cold temperatures are expected to behave quite differently from those at high temperatures. For example, a significant enhancement of reaction cross section is expected for some systems below 10 K because of the tunneling process and resonance effect. However, little is known about the intrinsic properties of cold molecules because of the difficulty in making free cold molecules.

The project consists of four topics as described below.

1) Spectroscopic investigation of molecules in quantum condensed phases : Recently, we found that molecules in quantum condensed phases such as solid parahydrogen and superfluid He nano-droplets show completely quantized rotational energy levels, to which high-resolution spectroscopy can be applied. As a result, high-resolution spectroscopy of molecules in quantum condensed phases provides a powerful technique for detailed and precise investigation of their properties at the moderately low temperatures of 10 K - 0.1K. The research topics include investigation of intermolecular interactions, relaxation and decoherence processes, and chemical reaction dynamics at low temperatures-all of which are very difficult to obtain by other experimental techniques.

2) Development of techniques of making free cold molecules : If one could achieve trapping molecules in the gas phase at ultra-cold temperatures below 1 mK, it would be possible to control the number of molecules coherently, which would lead to a new methodology to manipulate molecules through quantum mechanics, in addition to explore properties of very cold molecules. In this project, we are developing new techniques of making free cold molecules below 1 mK by combining techniques of buffer gas cooling, selective loading, and laser cooling. Once cooling is achieved, new phenomena of very cold molecules should be observed, such as anomalous reaction cross sections, which offer a completely new field of research in physical chemistry.

3) Quantum Computation in Quantum Crystal Some molecules embedded in solid parahydrogen have extremely long excited lifetime. These long excited states may be able to use as qubits for quantum computation. We are now investigation properties of entangled states of molecules in solid parahydrogen. Details of our idea will be published soon.

4) Astronomical Observation of Molecules in Molecular Clouds using Telescopes It has been well established that many molecules exist in interstellar space. However, their production mechanism is yet to be certain. Since the temperature of interstellar clouds is about 10 - 50 K, chemistry in interstellar clouds is expected to be much different from that on earth due to the quantum effects in chemical dynamics characteristic in low temperature chemistry. Interstellar chemistry is strongly related to physics and chemistry of cold molecules. We are now doing observation of astronomical important molecules in molecular clouds using several radio-telescopes in the world, such as the Nobeyama 45-m radio-telescope Japan, in order to understand physical and chemical conditions of molecular clouds.



Oct.22, 06 at Victoria