B.A.(1954) Rice Institute
Ph.D.(1957) University of California, Berkeley
Physical Chemistry, development of DNA genotyping and sequencing instrumentation, and development of QC laser-based mid-infrared trace gas monitoring instrumentation.
Email: rfcurl@rice.edu
Phone: (713) 348-4816
Office: Space Science & Tech. Bldg., 211
|
|
Robert Curl
University Professor Emeritus, Pitzer-Schlumberger Professor of Natural Sciences Emeritus, Professor of Chemisty Emeritus
Research Statement
Infrared Laser Spectroscopy and Kinetics of Free Radicals
The spectra, structure, and kinetics of small free radicals are being studied using color center and difference frequency infrared lasers. The purposes of this work are to develop sensitive methods for detecting these radicals and following their concentration in interesting chemical systems such as flames, to obtain and analyze high resolution spectra of these species thereby providing definitive information about their electronic and geometrical structure, and to study the kinetics of their reactions. The principal technique employed is kinetic spectroscopy. With this method, high transient concentrations of the radical species are produced by excimer laser photolysis of a suitable precursor and the resulting transient absorption spectrum is probed with a tunable infrared laser. By scanning the infrared probe laser wavelength while acquiring the infrared detector output a short time after the flash, the high resolution infrared spectrum of the transient free radical can be obtained. By fixing the probe laser wavelength on to the peak of an absorption line and then aquiring the output of the infrared detector as a function of time after the flash, reaction rates of the radical can be determined.
Experimentally, the most challenging aspect of this work is the development of infrared proble lasers which tune smoothly and cover a wide range of infrared wavelengths. In our workhorse probe laster, an Autoscan Ti: sapphire laser is mixed with a cw 1.064 ?m Nd: YAG in periodically-poled LiNbO3 to produce IR tunable from somewhat below 2000 cm-1 to over 4000 cm-1.
Recently we have been studying the spectra of larger free radicals using slit jet supersonic expansion cooling. The radicals are produced in the nozzle of a supersonic slit by excimer laser flash photolysis.
We have developed compact, rugged portable IR sources based on mixing two visible diode lasers in the nonlinear crystal to produce infrared tunable over selected wavelength regions. These sources are suitable for monitoring species found in the emissions from a variety of environmental sources such as automobiles, chemical plants, forest fires, and volcanoes.
Selected Publications
A. Kosterev, G. Wysocki, Y. Bakhirkin, S. So, R. Lewicki, M. Fraser, F. K. Tittel, and R. F. Curl "Application of quantum cascade lasers to trace gas analysis." Appl. Phys. B: Lasers and Optics, 90 (2008): 165-176.
R. F. Curl, M. K. Lee, and G. E. Scuseria "C60 Buckminsterfullerene high yields unraveled." J. Phys. Chem. A, 112 (2008): 11951-11955.
G. Wysocki, R. Lewicki, R. F. Curl, F. K. Tittel, L. Diehl, F. Capasso, M. Troccoli, G. Hofler, D. Bour, S. Corzine, R. Maulini, M. Giovanni, J. Faist "Widely tunable mode-hop free external cavity quantum cascade lasers for high resolution spectroscopy and chemical sensing." Appl. Phys. B: Lasers and Optics, 92 (2008): 305-311.
D. Melnick, J. Liu, R. F. Curl and T. A. Miller "Development of the Hamiltonian and matrix elements for partially deuterated methoxy radical." Mol. Phys., 105 (2007): 529-540.
J. Han, S. Hu, H. Chen, Y. Utkin, J. M. Brown and R. F. Curl "Jet-cooled infrared spectrum of methoxy in the CH stretching region." Phys. Chem. Chem Phys., 9 (2007): 3725-3734.
F. K. Tittel, Y. A. Bakhirkin, R. F. Curl, A. A. Kosterev, M. M. McCurdy, S. G. So and G. Wysocki "Laser based chemical sensor technology: recent advances and applications." Advanced Environmental Monitoring (2007).
R. Perez, J. M., Brown, Y. Utkin, J. Han, R. F. Curl "Observation of hot bands in the infrared spectrum of H2CO." J. Mol. Spectrosc., 236 (2006): 151-157.
Yu. A. Bakhirkin, A. A. Kosterev, R. F, Curl, F. K. Tittel, D. A. Yarekha, L. Hvozdara, M. Giovannini, J. Faist "Sub-ppbv nitric oxide concentration measurements using CW thermoelectricaly cooled quantum cascade laser-based integrated cavity output spectroscopy." Appl. Phys. B, 82 (2006): 149-154.
E. K. Lewis, W. C. Haaland, F. Nguyen, D. A. Heller, M. J. Allen, R. R. MacGregor, C. S. Berger, B. Willingham, L. A. Burns, G. B. I. Scott, C. Kittrell, B. R. Johnson, R. F. Curl, and M. L. Metzker "Color-blind fluorescence detection for four-color DNA sequencing." Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 102 (2005): 5346-5351.
G. Wysocki, R. F. Curl, F. K. Tittel, R. Maulini, J. M. Bulliard, J. Faist "Widely Tunable Mode-hop Free External Cavity Quantum Cascade Laser for High Resolution Spectroscopic Applications." Appl. Phys. B, 81 (2005): 769-777.
Awards
Presidential Gold Medal, Indian Science Congress. (2008).
University of Bochum Research Prize, University of Bochum. (2004).
Centenary Medal, Royal Society of Chemistry. (1999).
Johannes Marcus Marci Award in Spectroscopy, The Johannes Marcus Marci Society for Spectroscopy. (1998).
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Foundation. (1996).
|
