| People
- Faculty
- Professor:
Alec M. Wodtke |
| Field(s): |
Physical Chemistry |
 |
| Email: |
wodtke@chem.ucsb.edu |
| Phone: |
(805)
893-
8085 |
Fax:
(805)
893-
4120 |
| Office: |
4623C PSB North |
 |
Selected
Publications |
|
Go
to Research Group website
Go to PIRE-ECCI website |
| Bio: |
Alec Wodtke graduated magna cum laude with a
major in chemistry from the University of Utah in 1981.
He received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at U.C. Berkeley
in 1986 with Yuan T. Lee. His work there was awarded both
a National Science Foundation pre-doctoral Fellowship
and an American Chemical Society Graduate Fellowship.
From 1986-88, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the
Max Planck Institute in Goettingen, Germany with Prof.
Peter Andresen before joining the faculty at UCSB in 1988.
He received tenure in 1993 and became full Professor in
1996. He has received a Presidential Young Investigator
Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and a Camille
and Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award and an Alexander
von Humboldt Research Award. At UCSB, Professor Wodtke
established a vigorous research program focused on the
study of the chemical properties of highly vibrationally
excited molecules. This work has concerned itself with
the fundamental nature of collisions of molecules in large
amplitude vibrational states, the role of highly vibrationally
excited molecules in stratospheric ozone formation, the
quantum picture of isomerization as well as the nature
of large amplitude vibrational motions interacting with
metal surfaces. Professor Wodtke has also made significant
contributions to experimental methodology for studying
photochemical dynamics, in particular developing one of
the earliest high resolution approaches to the measurement
of correlated product state distributions between photo-fragment
pairs: "quantum-state-specific neutral time-of-flight".
His group has published over 100 papers in the field of
Physical Chemistry. Professor Wodtke served as spokesperson
for the Chemical Dynamics Beam line at the Advanced Light
Source from 1995-1999. He began serving as Chairman of
the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSB in
2003. Prof. Wodtke was elected a fellow of the AAAS in
2007. |
|
Current
Research (see group page for more information)
Photochemical Production of Cyclic-N3
Cylic-N3 is a fascinating molecule for many reasons, not the least of which is that it is an excellent example of the geometric phase effect in molecules. The vibrational wave functions of cyclic N3 are calculated with and without the GPE. One can easily see that not only are the energies of the states not correctly determined without including GPE, but the basic shapes of the vibrational wave functions are completely wrong unless the GPE is accounted for correctly.
Vibrational Promotion of Electron Emission
The experimental observation that vibrational energy of molecules that are undergoing bond breaking can exchange with electronic excitations of the metal represents a very interesting break down of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. We are interested in trying to understand the basic chemical mechanism by which this takes place. We are also exploring new approaches to chemical sensors based in this interesting physical chemistry.
Scattering of Laser-Prepared Molecules from Metal Surfaces
We have just finished the construction of a new advanced vacuum apparatus, designed to extend our capabilities to molecules that contain a Hydrogen atom. In this project we are using overtone pumping to excited molecules to high vibrational states investigating the way in which energy is exchanged in collisions with the surface. We will soon be installing an ion soft landing ion source to produce size selected nano-particles. In this way we will begin to understand how the electronic nature of the metal substrate may be used to tailor the chemical interactions at the interface.
In addition, there are a number of new and exciting interdisciplinary projects starting up through the Partnership for International Research and Education in Electron Chemistry and Catalysis at Interfaces.
|
| Selected
Research Publications |
| The
heat of formation of chlorine-isocyanate and the relative stability
of isoelectronic molecules: an experimental and theoretical
study.Yuanyuan Ji, Petia Bobadova-Parvanova, Chris Larson,
Petros Samartzis, Keiji Morokuma, Jim Jr-Min Lin, Tao-Tsung
Ching, Chanchal Chadhuri, Shih-Huang Lee and Alec M. Wodtke,
J. Chem. Phys. 124(24), Art. No. 241106 (2006). |
| Chemistry
in a Computer: Advancing the in silico Dream, Alec M.
Wodtke, Science 311, 64-65 (2006). |
| Conversion
of large amplitude vibration to electron excitation at a metal
surface , J. White, J. Chen, D. Matsiev, D.J. Auerbach
and A.M. Wodtke, Nature 433(7025),503-505,
(2005). |
| Electronically
non-adiabatic interactions of molecules at metal surfaces: Can
we trust the Born-Oppenheimer approximation for surface chemistry
Alec M. Wodtke, John C. Tully, Daniel J. Auerbach, International
Reviews in Physical Chemistry, 23(4), 513-539
(2004). |
| Velocity
map ion imaging of ClN 3 photolysis: Evidence of photolytic
production of cyclic-N 3. N. Hansen and A. M. Wodtke,
Journal of Physical Chemistry (Charles Parmenter Festschrift)
107 (49), 10608-10614 ( 2003 ) . |
| Bridging
the cluster-to-bulk divide: Electron attachment time-of-flight
mass spectrometry reveals geometrical shell closings in SF 6
clusters , Oddur Inglofsson, Alec M. Wodtke, Phys. Rev.
Lett.87, 183401 (2001). Cited as Editors Choice in Science 294
748 (2001) |
| The
Dynamics of “Stretched Molecules”: Experimental
Studies of Highly Vibrationally Excited Molecules With Stimulated
Emission Pumping, Michelle Silva, Rienk Jongma, Robert
W. Field Alec M. Wodtke, Annual Reviews of Physical Chemistry
52, 811-852 (2001) |
| Vibrational
Promotion of electron transfer , Y. Huang, S.J. Gulding,
C.T. Rettner, D.J. Auerbach A.M. Wodtke, Science 290,
111-114 (2000) |
| Enhanced
Reactivity of Highly Vibrationally Excited Molecules on Metal
Surfaces , H. Hou, Y. Huang, S.J. Gulding, C.T. Rettner,
D.J. Auerbach A.M. Wodtke, Science 284, 1647-1650
(1999) |
| The
Stereo-dynamics of a Gas-Surface Reaction, H. Hou, S.J.
Gulding, C.T. Rettner, D.J. Auerbach, A.M. Wodtke, Science,
277, 80 (1997) |
| The
"Ozone Deficit" Problem: Observation of an O 2(X,
v $ 26) + O( 3P) Channel in the 226-nm Photodissociation of
Ozone , R. L. Miller, A. G. Suits, P. L. Houston, R. Toumi,
J. A. Mack, A. M. Wodtke, Science, 265, 1831
(1994) |
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