Ignacio Franco
Post Doc
(Joint student with George Schatz)

Hometown: Bogotá , Colombia

Graduate Education:

University of Toronto, Ph.D. Chemical Physics (2007), Advisor: Paul Brumer Thesis: Coherent control of laser-induced symmetry breaking: from fundamentals to applications

The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Diploma- Condensed Matter Physics (2002), Thesis: Conformational dynamics of photoexcited conjugated molecules

Undergraduate Education:

Universidad Nacional de Colombia , B.Sc.- Chemistry (2001) Thesis: Atomic contributions to molecular optical activity: an approach through atoms in molecules theory

Research:

Single-molecule pulling experiments. Thermodynamics at the nanoscale. Self-assembly processes. Coherent control and laser-driven dynamics. Decoherence and dynamics of open quantum systems. Quantum-classical correspondence.

Recent Publications :

Franco, M. Shapiro and P. Brumer " Laser-induced currents along molecular wire junctions" J. Chem. Phys.128, 244906 (2008)

Franco, M. Shapiro and P. Brumer "Femtosecond dynamics and laser control of charge transport in trans-polyacetylene" J. Chem. Phys.128, 244905 (2008)

Franco and P. Brumer " Minimum requirements for laser-induced symmetry breaking in quantum and classical mechanics" J. Phys. B 41, 074003 (2008)

Franco, M. Shapiro and P. Brumer "Robust ultrafast currents in molecular wires through Stark shifts" Phys. Rev. Lett.99, 126802 (2007)

Franco and P. Brumer " Laser-induced spatial symmetry breaking in quantum and classical mechanics" Phys. Rev. Lett.97, 040402 (2006)

Franco and S. Tretiak , “Electron-vibrational dynamics of photoexcited polyfluorenes”, J. Am. Chem. Soc.126, 12130 (2004)

Franco and S. Tretiak , “Electron-vibrational relaxation of photoexcited polyfluorenes in the presence of chemical defects: a theoretical study”, Chem. Phys. Lett.372, 403 (2003)

Office location:Ryan 4040

ifranco at chem dot northwestern dot edu