Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry
(Fujimura lab.)

Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry works on the leading-edge researches for development of new chemical reactions especially using photon fields or magnetic fields as reaction fields. We have so far been contributing from a theoretical viewpoint to the progress of "quantum control of chemical reactions", one of the unexplored fields of chemistry in the 21st century. Quantum control is a new method to obtain only a desired product by directly controlling the quantum state of a reaction system with lights (lasers).

We focus on two types of quantum states, molucular vibration and intramolecular electron motion, and attempt to establish the quantum control methods of chemical reactions. In particular we deal with chemically interesting systems such as selective separation of racemic bodies of an optically active molecule, photoisomerization of rhodopsins, photodesorption of adsorbed molecules, and intramolecular charge transfer. Also elucidation of electronic dynamics of atoms and molecules under high-density laser pulse irradiation which takes place in an ultrashort femtosecond or attosecond timescale is enthusiastically studied. Past achievements have been advanced to clarification of the mechanism of Coulomb explosion in intense laser fields, control of molecular alignment or orientation only by means of lights, search for fundamental principle of light-driven quantum molecular motor, and so on.

We, Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry, actively collaborate not only with Japanese theoretical or experimental groups but also with research groups all over the world (US, Canada, Germany, Taiwan, China, India) as a center of quantum control study of reactions in Japan.