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Ignacio Franco

he/him/his

  • Associate Professor of Chemistry
  • Associate Professor of Physics
  • Leonard Mandel Faculty Fellow

PhD, University of Toronto, 2007

454 Hutchison Hall
(585) 275-8209
ignacio.franco@rochester.edu

Website


Research Overview

Ignacio Franco is a theoretical chemist tackling emerging problems at the interface between chemistry and physics, optics and nanoscience.

Research in the Franco group focuses on theory and computation as it applies to dynamical processes occurring in molecules, nanoscale and extended systems. Work in the Franco group encompasses the development of new theories and simulation methods, the efficient implementation of these methods on high-performance computers, and the application of the resulting tools to identify new phenomenology and understand problems of fundamental and technological interest in the physical sciences. The group is particularly interested in exploring quantum frontiers in molecular science, and in developing new methods to probe and control the behavior of matter by means of external stimuli, a topic that they like to refer to as “Molecules Under Stress”. The Franco group strives to perform theory and simulation that stimulates experimental progress.

 

Research Interests

  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

Selected Publications

  • T. Boolakee, C. Heide, A. Garzón-Ramírez, H. B. Weber, I. Franco and P. Hommelhoff, “Light-field control of real and virtual charge carriers”, Nature 605, 251-255, 2022
  • L. Mejía, U. Kleinekathoefer and I. Franco, “Coherent and Incoherent Contributions to Molecular Electron Transport”, J. Chem. Phys. 156, 094302, 2022
  • C. W. Kim and I. Franco, “Theory of Dissipation Pathways in Open Quantum Systems”, J. Chem. Phys. 154, 084109, 2021
  • Z. Li, L. Mejía, J. Marrs, H. Jeong, J. Hihath, and I. Franco, “Understanding the Conductance Dispersion of Single-Molecule Junctions”, J. Phys. Chem. C, 125, 6, 3406, 2021
  • B. Gu and I. Franco, “Optical absorption properties of laser-driven matter”, Phys. Rev. A, 98, 063412, 2018
  • A. J. Garzón-Ramı́rez and I. Franco, “Stark Control of Electrons Across Interfaces”, Phys. Rev. B, 98, 121305(R), 2018
  • Koch M., Li Z., Nacci C., Kumagai T., Franco I., and Grill L. “How structural defects affect the mechanical and electrical properties of single molecular wires” Phys. Rev. Lett., 2018121, 047701.
  • Chen L., Zhang Y., Chen G., and Franco I. “Stark control of electrons along nanojunctions” Nature Communications, 2018, 9, 2070.