David J. NESBITT Professor Office: JILA A805 Office Phone: 303 492 8857 Lab: JILA B013, B212, B214, B221 Lab Phone: 303 492 1453, 303 492 1454, 303 492 7777 Fax: 303 7351424 Group Website: Nesbitt Group Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ph.D.: University of Colorado, 1981
Postdoctoral Fellow: National Research Fellow at National Bureau of Standards, 1981-82
Awards:Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, 1999William F. Meggers Award, Optical Society of America, 1999Earle K. Plyler Prize, 1997Edward Uhler Condon Award, 1995Department of Commerce Silver Medal, 1992Arthur S. Fleming Award, 1991American Physical Society Fellow, 1991Wilson Prize, 1989Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1987Dreyfus Foundation Grant for Newly Appointed Faculty in Chemistry, 1984ACS Nobel Laureate Signature Award, 1983 (with S. R. Leone and J. T. Hynes)Miller Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, 1982-84

Laser Studies of Kinetics, Spectroscopy and Reaction Dynamics: Clusters, Radicals, and Scan Probe Microscopy

Professor Nesbitt is interested in laser spectroscopy, dynamics, and kinetics of fundamental molecular systems in order to probe chemical reactions dynamics, intermolecular potentials, laser photofragmentation and surface molecular dynamics at the quantum state-to-state level. Of particular current interests are the following:

1. high resolution IR laser spectroscopy of molecular clusters and solvation phenomena;
2. potential energy surfaces and vibrational dynamics of hydrogen bonded species;
3. intense sources of radicals and ions in supersonically cooled discharges;
4. time and quantum state-resolved reaction kinetics relevant to combustion and atmospheric chemistry;
5. dynamics of chemical reactions in clusters;
6. reactive and inelastic scattering in crossed molecular beams;
7. steric effects and molecular alignment ofreagents;
8. confocal spectroscopy of single molecules and semiconductor quantum dots;
9. novel combination of near field scanning optical (NSOM), atomic force (AFM), and scanning tunneling (STM) microscopies for laser imaging of nanostructures and biomolecules.

The group's work involves extensive use of state-of-the art cw and pulsed laser technology, nonlinear generation of tunable mid and near-infrared laser light, fast analog electronics, scan probe methods, confocal microscopy, servo-loop control, shaped supersonic expansions, plasma discharges, kinetic analysis and quantum theoretical calculations. The central goal of the research program is to elucidate the fundamental dynamics of chemical reactions, photophysics and collisional processes from both an experimental and theoretical perspective.

Selected Publications

M. Halonen, L. Halonen and D. J. Nesbitt, "Structural issues in conjugated hydrocarbons: High-resolution infrared slit-jet spectroscopy of trans-1,3- butadiene", J. Chem. Phys. (submitted).

O. Votava, S. R. Mackenzie and D. J. Nesbitt, "Intracluster stereochemistry in van der Waals complexes: Steric effects in UV photodissociation of stateselected Ar-HOD/H₂O", J. Chem. Phys. (submitted).

V. V. Protasenko, A. Gallagher and D. J. Nesbitt, "Fluorescence enhancement in non-contact and dynamic-force apertureless near-field scanning optical microscopy", in Proceedings, SPIE Annual Optical Science and Technology Meeting 2002 (SPIE Proc. Vol. 4809, 2002), pp. 255-265.

M. Kuno, D. P. Fromm, S. T. Johnson, A. Gallagher and D. J. Nesbitt, "Modeling distributed kinetics in isolated semiconductor quantum dots", Phys. Rev. B 67, 125304/1-15 (2003).

M. Farnik, S. Davis and D. J. Nesbitt, "Probing hydrogen bond potential surfaces for out-of-plane geometries: Near-IR combination band torsional (ν₆) spectroscopy in (HCl)₂", J. Chem. Phys. 118, 10137-10148 (2003).

O. L. A. Monti and D. J. Nesbitt, "Diffraction limited photogeneration and detection of silver nanoparticles", J. Phys. Chem. B (in press).

V. Protasenko, A. Gallagher, M. Labardi and D. J. Nesbitt, "Enhancement and quenching of the fluorescence of single CdSe/ZnS quantum dots studied by confocal apertureless near-field scanning optical microscope", in Optical Science and Technology (SPIE Proc. Vol. 5188, 2003), pp. 254-263.

S. A. Nizkorodov, M. Ziemkiewicz, T. L. Myers and D. J. Nesbitt, "Vibrationall mediated dissociation dynamics of H₂O in the ν_OH = 2 polyad", J. Chem. Phys.119, 10158-10168 (2003).

H. F. Hamann, M. Larbardi, S. Barzen, T. Brown, A. Gallagher and D. J. Nesbitt, "Extinction near-field optical microscopy", Opt. Commun. (in press).

V. V. Protasenko, A. Gallagher and D. J. Nesbitt, "Factors that can influence confocal apertureless near-field scanning optical microscopy", Opt. Commun.(submitted).

M. P. Deskevich and D. J. Nesbitt, "Dynamically weighted MCSCF: Multistate calculations for F + H₂O --> HF + OH reaction paths", J. Chem. Phys. (submitted).