Research Interests
The research activities of the Okumura Group are in the areas of laser spectroscopy, kinetics, and reaction dynamics, applied to problems in atmospheric chemistry. We study atmospheric free radicals and transient intermediates in order to understand the reactions and photochemistry that are most important in the troposphere and stratosphere. Our goal is both to determine parameters of key reactions and species in the atmosphere, and to understand the chemical physics of these processes at the most fundamental level.
Topics
Laser spectroscopy of reactive intermediates; Reaction rates, mechanisms and dynamics of free radicals, clusters, and transient species; Chemistry of peroxyl and alkoxyl radicals; Photochemistry and photodissociation dynamics; Mechanisms of termolecular radical-radical reactions; Nonadiabatic effects and multiple surfaces in radical reactions; The Jahn-Teller Effect in NO3; Long range intemolecular forces; Isotope effects; Development of methods in cavity-enhanced and heterodyne-detected laser spectroscopy.
Instrumental Techniques
Pulsed cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS), frequency-stabilized cavity ring-down spectroscopy (FS-CRDS), photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS), frequency-modulation spectroscopy (FMS), noise-immune cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectroscopy (NICE-OHMS), chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS).
