Dr. Upendra Harbola is Associate Professor of Chemistry at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. He received his Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He was a Marie-Curie Senior Fellow at the University of Freiburg, Germany. His research interests are aimed at formulating theoretical models to study transport processes in molecular junctions, photoionisation dynamics in molecules and quantum effects in supercooled liquids. He has authored more than 60 publications in internationally reputed journals.
Dr. Harbola’s Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence project focuses on understanding how and in what ways a quantum source of light can be used to control transport in molecular junctions. Quantum light consists of photons that are entangled with one another and has been used to explore non-classical responses from molecules at equilibrium. Interaction of quantum light with molecular junctions, which operate in out-of-equilibrium conditions, pose interesting challenges that are explored in this study.