Science

Molecular systems, mostly studied due to their biological relevance, recently started to show strong applicative potential in nanotechnology and biotechnology. Organic materials increasingly penetrate into electronics—the field totally dominated by the inorganic semiconductors so far. Unlimited variety of organic molecules as well as a broad range of technological fabrication abilities promise a wide spectrum of device characteristics. On the other hand, applications require  detailed understanding of molecular properties determining characteristics of molecular-based materials and, thus, stimulate scientific activity in this field. Amazing functional characteristics and reliability of molecular systems created by Nature suggest operational principles that might be adapted for various man-made devices. Studies of specific molecular compounds, nanostructures and heterogeneous media are carried out using modern approaches of electrochemistry, chromatography and spectroscopy together with theoretical modelling of the experimental observables. For the applicative purposes the biochip technology suitable for understanding the operational principles of various biomolecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids, is also extensively applied. The molecular structures based on quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, graphene, various polymers etc. are also taken into consideration. Molecular systems necessarily involve a significant amount of nuclear dynamics, ranging from coherent nuclear vibrations at high frequencies to Brownian fluctuations or even proton transfer reactions in the molecular complexes. In addition, the molecular aggregates have multiple electronic excited states (excitonic states) that are responsible for the spectral properties and are involved in the photoinduced processes and reactions. All such complexity of the energetic arrangement has to be taken into consideration in order to enhance the efficiency of the molecular devices. These problems are considered in three departments:

• Molecular Compounds Physics (head prof. V. Gulbinas)
  
• Nano-enginering (head dr. R. Valiokas)
• Organic Chemistry (head prof. A. Malinauskas)