CoCoChem - A Network to Develop the Coherent Control of Chemistry

Photochemistry uses light to initiate chemical change. This can often lead to products different from those obtained using usual chemical reagents and heat. Unfortunately, photochemistry is no easier to control than thermal chemistry and often a mixture of producs are obtained. Coherent control aims to use the electric field generated by a laser to direct a chemical reaction. This can be done by using a specially shaped pulse of laser light. How to shape the pulse is a technically difficult problem. How this pulse brings about the control is a theoretically difficult problem. The proposed research is to set up a network of researchers to discuss and solve these problems.