Michael Galperin
Contact Information
Office: UH 3250
Phone: (858) 246-0511
Fax: (858) 534-7244
Email: migalperin@ucsd.edu
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Education and Appointments
2003 Ph.D., Tel Aviv University
Chemical Physics
1991 M.S., Ural State University
Theoretical Physics

Awards and Academic Honors
2007 LANL Director's Postdoctoral Fellowship
2001 The Israel Chemical Society, J. Jortner prize

Research Interests
1. Transport in molecular junctions.
One of distinct features of molecules as compared e.g. to quantum dots is their flexibility, so that inelastic effects in transport through molecular devices is more pronounced. Currently inelastic quantum transport through tunneling junctions at resonance can be treated properly only in the weak electron-vibration coupling (when coupling to contacts is much stronger than interactions on the bridge). The other extreme is usually treated either within semi-classical (master equation) approaches or is based on scattering theory considerations. In the last case electron-vibration coupling can be taken into account exactly (or numerically exactly), but all junction related information (Fermi seas in the contacts and their influence on the bridge processes) is lost. We try to develop theoretical techniques to improve quality of calculations in the strongly correlated regime. The last is of particular importance for practical applications (molecular switches, memory, optoelectronic devices etc.)

2. Molecular spectroscopy at non-equilibrium.
Spectroscopy is done usually in the language of molecular states, while ab initio scheme treat transport mostly at the level of effective single-electron orbitals. The goal is development of theoretical tools for description of non-equilibrium molecular systems in the language of many-body states. Accomplishing this task will take into account state-specific molecular properties: change of electronic structure of the molecule upon oxidation/reduction or excitation by external field, charge specific frequencies of vibrations, anharmonicities and non-Born-Oppenheimer couplings. It will also make possible to introduce standard quantum chemistry methods into description of molecular transport, and will treat of non-equilibrium state of the molecule (e.g. transport) and its interaction with light on the same footing.
Primary Research Area: Interdisciplinary Specialties:
Physical/Analytical Chemistry Computational and Theoretical



Image Gallery:
Figure 1: Contour plot of conductance and second derivative of current for inelastic transport through quantum dot. Figure 2: Schemes and diagrams for `normal' and `inverse' Raman scattering.

Selected Publications
  • Galperin M, Ratner MA, Nitzan A, "Hysteresis, switching, and negative differential resistance in molecular junctions: a polaron model." Nano Lett 1(125-30): , 2005. [Go to PubMed]
  • Galperin M, Nitzan A, "Current-induced light emission and light-induced current in molecular-tunneling junctions." Phys Rev Lett 20(206802): , 2005. [Go to PubMed]
  • Galperin M, Ratner MA, Nitzan A, "Molecular transport junctions: vibrational effects." J. Phys.: Condens. Matter, 2007, 19, 103201
  • Galperin M, Ratner MA, Nitzan A, Troisi A, "Nuclear coupling and polarization in molecular transport junctions: beyond tunneling to function." Science 5866(1056-60): , 2008. [Go to PubMed]
  • Galperin M, Tretiak S, "Linear optical response of current-carrying molecular junction: a nonequilibrium Green's function-time-dependent density functional theory approach." J Chem Phys 12(124705): , 2008. [Go to PubMed]