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Research subject Chemical Physics

The Division of Chemical Physics was formed in the Autumn of 2011 by merging of the previous Molecular Physics and part of the Quantum Chemistry divisions. It has about 50 members including faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, diploma workers, and guest researchers.

The research is centered at fundamental aspects of the structure, reaction dynamics and kinetics of molecules in various environments and their interactions with electrons and electromagnetic fields. A hallmark of the division is that this is pursued in the spirit of close connections between strong theoretical and experimental groups. Areas of research include molecular astrophysics and -biology, water structure and dynamics, ultrafast dynamics of molecules in gas phase and surface reactions, electron-molecular ion interaction, theory of primary chemical reactions, and energy-related research on dye-sensitized solar-cells and fuel-cells. A substantial part of the research is carried out at large-scale external facilities, e.g., the LCLS and XFEL xray free-electron lasers, synchrotrons, and radiotelescopes. The division also has an in-house ultrafast laser spectroscopy laboratory with facilities for gas phase ultrafast multiparticle coincidence electron spectroscopy combined with high-order harmonic generation and time-resolved vibrational sum-frequency spectroscopy of surface chemical reactions. The double ion storage ring DESIREE will allow studies of properties and reactions of important ions in a cold environment, including larger species like fullerenes, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and clusters.

Related research subject

Physics
Kemisk fysik

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Researchers

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Research groups

Structural dynamics of aqueous solutions (SDAQS)

In the group we are interested in understanding role of water in chemical and biophysical processes from a statistical physics perceptive. We study the structural dynamics of aqueous solutions, including nanoparticles, organic molecules and proteins in supercooled and glassy states.

SDAQS - forskargruppsida
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Research projects

Chemical Energy Transformations and Catalysis

There are many base chemicals of importance for the catalytic production of fertilizers, plastics, detergents, pharmaceuticals and fuels. Currently, the feedstock for the chemical industry is entirely based on fossil sources with an emittance of 8% of the worlds footprint of greenhouse gases (not including when fuels is being burned).

The differential pumped photoelectron spectroscopy system to probe the surface of model catalysts.
How do biomolecules behave in the cell’s cramped environment?

The inside of a cell is packed with proteins, RNA, and other biomolecules. Researchers have discovered that this crowding in the cell results in a kind of condensate of biomolecules, like small molecular droplets, which appear to be important for the cell’s function

Biomolekyler i trånga miljöer
Polaritonic Chemistry and Light-Matter Materials

In this project we investigate the possibilities to control chemical reactions with confined electric fields from a theorists perspective. By using nano cavities one can create hybrid light-matter states and modify the reactivity of molecules. Our goal is to propose new types of photonic catalysts and to develop new numerical simulations methods.

Polaritonisk kemi och material för ljus och materia - Polaritonic Chemistry and Light-Matter Materia
Ultrafast X-Ray Spectroscopy of Conical Intersections

Modern light sources like free electron lasers and high harmonic generation sources can provide brilliant, broadband and ultrashort pulses of light. This opens up new possibilities to investigate non-adiabatic phenomena in molecules.

Ultrasnabb röntgenspektroskopi av koniska skärningspunkter - Ultrafast X-Ray Spectroscopy of Conical
Water, Ice and Aqueous Solutions

It is known since several decades that many properties of water such density, compressibility, heat capacity etc. become strongly anomalous as the temperature decreases. In particular, this deviation from a simple liquid behaviour becomes strongly enhanced as water is cooled below the freezing point into the metastable supercooled regime.

Different potential configurations of the hydrogen bonding network in water

Courses and programmes

At Fysikum there are four postgraduate subjects: physics, theoretical physics, chemical physics and medical radiation physics.

Read more about our postgraduate educations

 

Doctoral studies

The doctoral education gives you opportunity to deepen your subject knowledge and to learn more about the scientific methodology – define problems, use analytical and experimental methods to find results which you then evaluate. You are a part of a research group in an environment with researchers and other doctoral students who encourage and help you.

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News

Anita Girelli, Postdok och medlem i SDAQS, Kemisk fysik, Fysikum
Department of Physics

Understanding proteins and water with physics

Anita Girelli is a new fellow in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions program from the European Commission in 2024. Originally from Verona in Italy, Anita came to Fysikum in 2022 to start her first postdoc with Foivos Perakis. The way from Italy to Sweden was not always straight forward. For one, Anita took some time to fall in love with physics— I always liked math but at my first contact with physics, I thought it was weird and boring.

Physics - Theme page
Department of Physics

International Water Day: research on water at Fysikum

The UN General Assembly started the initiative in 1992 and since then, different water-related themes have been highlighted every year. In Sweden, World Water Day is coordinated by the Swedish Hydrological Council (SHR) and has been celebrated since 2006. At Fysikum, we tell you about our research on water during this day.

Kvinnliga fysiker på Kvinnodagen 2024
Department of Physics

International Women's Day 2024: Women in physics

March 8 is International Women's Day and today we want to highlight women in physics. There are many examples including Marie Curie, Maria Goeppert Mayer and Lise Meitner to Fabiola Gianotti and Lene Hau. We also mention some of the female professors of physics who belong to the Fysikum.

Physics - Theme page
Foivos Perakis, assistant professor, Chemical Physics Division, Fysikum. Photo: Gunilla Häggström
Department of Physics

Applying physics and chemistry problems in biological systems

Foivos Perakis was born and raised in Athens, Greece. Already at high school he was attracted to math, physics or computer science. During his studies at the Physics department at the University of Crete, he took the opportunity to study as an ERASMUS student at the University of Amsterdam. Later on, Foivos did his PhD in University of Zurich and a postdoc at Stanford. In 2016 he moved to Sweden as a researcher at Fysikum. He was appointed as an assistant professor in 2019 and a Wallenberg Fellow in 2023. His research group focuses on liquid-liquid transitions and proteins in crowded and cryogenic environments.

Physics - Theme page
Professor Martin Beye. Photo: Gunilla Häggström
Department of Physics

Martin Beye is researching on catalysts working against the climate change

“In the past, we developed many new and powerful techniques with x-ray radiation. The time is ripe now to use them for something important”, says Martin Beye. Climate change is the most important topic to be addressed in the world for the coming decades. Martin commits to make his contribution working at Stockholm University, after his start at Fysikum in September 2023. “At Stockholm University, there is a unique environment, knowledge and infrastructure and wonderful colleagues – all that is required to actually make an impact."

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Professor Anders Nilsson, Fysikum. Foto: Gunilla Häggström
Department of Physics

Professor Anders Nilsson receives the 2024 Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy & Dynamics

This prize recognizes notable contributions to the field of molecular spectroscopy and dynamics. The prize consists of $10,000, an allowance for travel expenses, up to $1000, to attend the meeting at which the prize is to be presented and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient. The motivation is “for seminal contributions in the application of x-ray spectroscopy methods to the molecular dynamics of water and catalytic reactions.”

Physics - Theme page
Image caption: An X-ray flash illuminates a molecule. Credit: Raphael Jay
Department of Physics

X-rays visualise how one of nature’s strongest bonds breaks

The use of short flashes of X-ray light brings scientists one big step closer toward developing better catalysts to transform the greenhouse gas methane into a less harmful chemical. The result, published in the journal Science, reveals for the first time how carbon-hydrogen bonds of alkanes break and how the catalyst works in this reaction.

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Sergey Koroidov
Department of Physics

Conversion of carbon dioxide back into fuels

The conversion of carbon dioxide back into fuels via electrochemistry is a very attractive alternative. - In my studies, I am developing the essential understanding of these reactions by following time-resolved transformation at the atomic and molecular level, says Sergey Koroidov.

Physics - Theme page
Professor Anders Nilsson. Photo: Gunilla Häggström
Department of Physics

The importance of water and fuel cells in society

When he was in secondary school, he was mostly interested in chemistry and physics. He continued with this focus during the 4-year technical program and during studies abroad. Since then, Professor Anders Nilsson has worked in several countries and his list of publications and awards is long.

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Atomic Motion in Liquid Water Molecules
Department of Physics

Importance of Quantum Effects in Water

Using ultrafast electron diffraction, Anders Nilsson at Stockholm University have participated in a study lead by colleagues at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California on how the structure of water changes after a fast change in the quantum distribution of distances in the internal bond. Upon increasing the quantum number by one unit of the internal OH stretch the team surprisingly found that the hydrogen bond becomes strengthen. The finding is published this week in Nature.

Physics - Theme page
Geometry-dependent SOT-driven magnetization dynamics
Department of Physics

Magnetic sandwich between two worlds

An international research team involving Stockholm University creates a bridge between the macroscopic and quantum worlds. An international research team, including Stefano Bonetti, a researcher at Fysikum in Stockholm, and led by Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), has developed an effective new method for making electromagnetic waves - the waves that allow our mobile phones to communicate - interact with microscopic "spin waves", or magnetic waves.

Physics - Theme page
Model system with 2 electronic states exhibiting a sloped CI
Department of Physics

Mapping molecular funnels with X-rays: precise timings of non-adiabatic excited state dynamics

Time-resolved spectroscopy is a tool that provides access to the time-scale of chemical reactions as they happen. With the help of ultra-short light pulses, it is possible to observe conformal changes in molecules on the time-scale of the atomic motion and electronic motion. Photochemical reactions, such as the damage of DNA by means of sunlight or the key-step in the process of vision, can thus be observed in great detail.

Physics - Theme page
Fig. 1: Comparison of estimates for the LDL–HDL binodal.
Department of Physics

Liquid-liquid phase separation in supercooled water from ultrafast heating of low-density amorphous

Recent experiments continue to find evidence for a liquid-liquid phase transition (LLPT) in supercooled water, which would unify our understanding of the anomalous properties of liquid water and amorphous ice. These experiments are challenging because the proposed LLPT occurs under extreme metastable conditions where the liquid freezes to a crystal on a very short time scale.

Artist’s impression of the MHz-XPCS technique being used to measure the dynamics of proteins in dens
Department of Physics

Capturing protein dynamics in crowded environments with the world’s brightest X-ray laser

Proteins carry out a wide range of important functions in our bodies. Knowledge about how they move around and through the crowded environments of our cells and tissues is key to understanding how they perform these crucial functions. Experiments exploring protein dynamics, however, often use samples that do not reflect the crowded and complex environments of the cell. At the European X-ray Free Electron laser (XFEL), scientists carried out X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy experiments to measure the nanoscopic structural dynamics of protein solution samples. The results, reported in Nature Communications open up the unique possibility of studying collective dynamics in protein solutions with high concentration, which is particularly interesting in the context of intracellular transport in eukaryotic cells and in drug design.

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Cavity-molecule coupled system
Department of Physics

Triplet-triplet annihilation: An efficient photon upconversion route

Researchers at Fysikum recently investigated the triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) dynamics of naphthalene. The annihilation process involves the conversion of two spin triplet states into one singlet excited state. The triplet state contains two unpaired electrons with same spin whereas the singlet state electrons are all paired and have opposite spins.

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Departments and centres

Research in the subject is mainly carried out at Fysikum in the division of Chemical Physics.

Department of Physics