https://engineering.purdue.edu/~rchakra/
Whereas in the 20th century, chemists and physicists directed their attention toward the observation of quantum phenomena in atoms and molecules, in the early 21st century, they are teaming with engineers to manipulate these processes by directly controlling molecular dynamics. This challenging goal requires application of the principles of engineering control and optimization to the structure and dynamical laws governing atomic and molecular motion. This talk will survey developments in molecular-scale control and optimization, with an emphasis on two major topics: a) quantum control; b) optimization of protein function. Quantum control involves the manipulation of delicate quantum wave interferences to optimally direct atomic and molecular dynamical phenomena for selective laser chemistry or quantum information processing. At the larger length scale of macromolecules, evolution has succeeded at controlling chemical reactivity through the optimal design of catalytic proteins, or enzymes, that exploit semiclassical effects at the interface of quantum and classical mechanics. Research within our group in these areas will be highlighted.
