The Nesbitt Laboratory pursues research in four main areas:
- High resolution laser spectroscopy of radicals, ions and molecular ion clusters
- Chemical Reaction Dynamics: Gas-Liquid
- Quantum nanostructures and photonic nanomaterials
- Single Molecule Biophysics: Microscopy, Kinetics and Thermodynamics
The group's work involves extensive use of state-of-the art cw and ultrafast pulsed laser technology, nonlinear generation of tunable mid and near-infrared laser light, fast analog electronics, scan probe methods, confocal microscopy, servo-loop control, shaped supersonic expansions, plasma discharges, kinetic analysis and quantum theoretical calculations. A central unifying goal of the research program is the elucidation of fundamental kinetics and dynamics of elementary chemical/biophysical processes from both experimental and theoretical perspectives.
Professor Nesbitt is a Fellow of JILA; a Physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); a Full Professor in both the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and in the Department of Physics.