department, as well as other departments. If there is a single theme that characterizes experimental physical chemistry at UCLA, it is interdisciplinarity. At the heart of all physical chemistry research is the pursuit of an atomic or molecular level of
understanding of the function and structure of complex chemical systems and processes. Experimental physical chemists at UCLA practice their art at the interface between chemistry and many other fields, including electrical engineering, solid-state phys
ics, biology, computer architecture, atmospheric science, chemical engineering, and materials science. Specific topics of study include the spectroscopy and/or reaction dynamics of small molecules, electron transport properties in polymer electronics, th
e chemical and physical properties of two- and three-dimensional self-assembling systems, quantum dots, chemical catalysis, molecular electronics, the glass transition, biochemical switching processes, chemical sensors, photonic band gap materials, the ch
emistry of the atmosphere, and others.
Experimental techniques that are utilized by the various physical chemistry groups include spectroscopy and reactive scattering in molecular beams, light scattering, real time structural analysis, cw and ultra-fast spectroscopies, various linear and non-l
inear spectroscopies, electronic device fabrication, electron microscopies, NMR, magnetometry, scanning probe microscopies, and many more. While the majority of these experimental tools are operated by individual groups, UCLA also has a number of shared
user facilities. These include not just the standard x-ray/NMR/mass spec facilities that most chemistry departments have, but also an ultra-high-vacuum surface and materials analysis facility, a device fabrication facility in the engineering department k
nown as the "nano-lab", multi-media labs, and others.
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