Shape-Shifting Molecules: Photoisomerization Action Spectroscopy. This project aims to examine molecules that change shape in response to light in order to gain insight into the biological processes they control. Many biological systems, including the human visual apparatus and bacterial photosynthesis, depend on molecules that change shape in response to light. The project plans to probe shape-shifting molecules with laser light while they are propelled through gas by an electric field. Light-i ....Shape-Shifting Molecules: Photoisomerization Action Spectroscopy. This project aims to examine molecules that change shape in response to light in order to gain insight into the biological processes they control. Many biological systems, including the human visual apparatus and bacterial photosynthesis, depend on molecules that change shape in response to light. The project plans to probe shape-shifting molecules with laser light while they are propelled through gas by an electric field. Light-induced changes in molecular shape produce detectable variations in drift speed. The ensuing knowledge would help calibrate computational approaches for predicting molecular function. It would also establish foundations for understanding essential biological molecules, including retinals, carotenes and peptides, and for developing new light-activated molecular motors and switches.Read moreRead less
Ions in the Fire: Laser Spectroscopy of Cryogenically Cooled Molecular Ions. This project will combine sophisticated laser and mass spectrometric techniques to probe the structure and function of cryogenically cooled biological molecules that are the core operational units for vision, photosynthesis and protein labelling. Knowledge gained from the project will be used to calibrate modern computational approaches to describing and predicting molecular function. It is expected that the project wil ....Ions in the Fire: Laser Spectroscopy of Cryogenically Cooled Molecular Ions. This project will combine sophisticated laser and mass spectrometric techniques to probe the structure and function of cryogenically cooled biological molecules that are the core operational units for vision, photosynthesis and protein labelling. Knowledge gained from the project will be used to calibrate modern computational approaches to describing and predicting molecular function. It is expected that the project will provide foundations for understanding and optimising the biological systems upon which life depends, and for developing new light-activated molecular devices including molecular motors, switches and energy harvesting systems.Read moreRead less
Improved density functional approximations from a new model of the uniform electron gas. By studying the way that electrons move on the surface of a sphere, this project will systematically construct new methods for studying and predicting chemistry using the laws of quantum mechanics. The work will pave the way for even complicated chemical reactions to be investigated using standard PC or Mac computers.
Accurate quantum chemistry via quadrature and resolution. This project seeks to develop two radical new approaches to the integration problem which lies at the heart of quantum chemistry. The first approach will systematically exploit the fact that the energy integral is a totally symmetric function of the electronic coordinates. The second approach will systematically develop one-electron resolutions of the many-electron operators that appear in explicitly correlated quantum chemical methods. A ....Accurate quantum chemistry via quadrature and resolution. This project seeks to develop two radical new approaches to the integration problem which lies at the heart of quantum chemistry. The first approach will systematically exploit the fact that the energy integral is a totally symmetric function of the electronic coordinates. The second approach will systematically develop one-electron resolutions of the many-electron operators that appear in explicitly correlated quantum chemical methods. After developing the underlying theory of these two approaches, this project will implement them efficiently in accessible software, so that they can be used by the scientific community to perform more accurate molecular modelling than has been possible in the past.Read moreRead less
Gamma-ray spectra from electron-positron annihilation in molecules. Positrons and molecular electrons interact in new ways as compared to the electrons themselves, thus providing novel chemical possibilities. Australian expertise and the best available elsewhere will be combined to produce important new scientific results in this area and provide major training opportunities for young researchers.
Spin detection and control in molecular nanomagnets at surfaces. One fact of computing life is that there's never enough storage. Storing information on single molecules would improve storage density by a factor of 10,000. A promising strategy is to arrange magnetic molecules on a surface, so that their spin can be accessed from one side in read/write operations. While much is known of magnetic molecules in crystals, their behaviour on a surface is still a puzzle. Using mathematical models and s ....Spin detection and control in molecular nanomagnets at surfaces. One fact of computing life is that there's never enough storage. Storing information on single molecules would improve storage density by a factor of 10,000. A promising strategy is to arrange magnetic molecules on a surface, so that their spin can be accessed from one side in read/write operations. While much is known of magnetic molecules in crystals, their behaviour on a surface is still a puzzle. Using mathematical models and synchrotron experiments, the project will explore which combinations of molecules and surfaces exhibit the best magnetic behaviour. The expected results will be crucial for the development of a new generation of high-capacity and high-performing computers.Read moreRead less