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You are here: FRIAS Fellows Fellows 2021/22 Prof. Dr. Upendra Harbola

Prof. Dr. Upendra Harbola

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry

External Senior Fellow (Marie S. Curie FCFP)
May 2022 - August 2022

CV

Professor Upendra Harbola holds an M.Sc. degree in Physics (1996), and a Ph.D. degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.  He was a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Irvine from 2004-2008 and at University of California, San Diego, from 2008-2011.  He is currently a faculty in Chemistry at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.

His main research is focused on developing theoretical methods to study quantum transport phenomena using the standard tools of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, with an emphasis to understand charge/heat transport and opto-electronic responses of molecular junctions, quantum heat engines, ultrafast charge migration and ionization processes in molecules. His contributions in this field include a perturbative formulation of opto-electronic signals from molecular junctions, Liouville-space approach to study transport and its fluctuations in quantum junctions. He is also interested in studying quantum effects in liquid-glass transition phenomena using mode-coupling and computer simulation methods.

He has published more than 60 research articles, and delivered several invited lectures.

Selected Publications

  • Energy, particle and photon fluxes in molecular junctions, H. K. Yadalam, S. Mukamel, and U. Harbola, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 11, 1762 (2020).
  • Statistics of  heat transport across a capacitively coupled double quantum dot circuit”, Hari Kumar Yadalam and Upendra Harbola, Phys. Rev. B 99, 195449 (2019).
  • Statistics of an adiabatic charge pump”, H. K. Yadalam and U. Harbola, Phys. Rev. B 93, 035312 (2016).
  • Thermodynamics of quantum heat engines”, H. P. Goswami and U. Harbola, Phys. Rev. A 88, 013843 (2013).
  • Nonequilibrium fluctuations, fluctuation theorems and single-particle counting statistics in quantum systems”,  M. Esposito, U. Harbola and S. Mukamel, Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1665 (2009).

FRIAS Research Project

Manipulating molecular junctions using quantum light

We seek to study linear and nonlinear responses of molecular junctions to external stimuli using quantum light characterized by entangled photons. Molecular junctions have potential applications in molecule based electronics and have been shown to be useful for developing several molecular devices. One of the hallmarks of quantum systems is to exhibit quantum coherence which can be controlled externally. Entangled photons create new-types of coherences and manipulate electrical and optical response which has been shown to be useful in revealing several dynamical quantum features in molecules that are not possible to capture with classical light. These coherences may also be important in controlling transport in molecular junctions. We propose to develop a theoretical framework to control transport in molecular junctions using quantum light.