Mark A. Ratner

Northwestern University


Primary Section: 14, Chemistry
Secondary Section: 33, Applied Physical Sciences
Membership Type:
Member (elected 2002)

Research Interests

Chemistry is largely concerned with structure, function, and mechanism. I have tried to concentrate on mechanism as the common theme underlying molecular behavior. My theoretical work, usually done in close collaboration with experimentalists and with other theorists, has focused on a number of mechanistic phenomena central to chemical structure and processes, particularly electron transfer, molecular electronics, quantum dynamics, and conductive and optical response of molecular and polymeric structures. This work has included some methods development (dynamic percolation models, dynamic mean fields, and decoupling approximations). More commonly my group has worked on application of appropriate theoretical models and methods to derive structure and function relationships between molecular structures and the susceptibilities and properties of molecular matter. Particular interests include transport in molecular junctions, control of electron transfer reactions, and dephasing and coherence in quantum dynamics.

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