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Sankhabrata Chandra

Photo of Sankhabrata Chandra

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive

Pasadena, CA 91109

Curriculum Vitae:

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Member of:

Laboratory Studies

Biography

Sankhabrata is an astrochemist and also, he is an expert in ultrafast laser and ultrahigh vacuum systems. Throughout his PhD, he focused on the attosecond electron dynamics by high harmonic generation (HHG) spectroscopy. He built the first HHG beamline in India. He also built magnetic bottle time of flight photoelectron spectrometer. With the combination of electron dynamics simulation and experiment he studied electron dynamics on weakly bonded systems. During his PhD, he started focusing on the ice surface in the interstellar medium and he moved to Hawaii for astrochemistry related postdoctoral work. In his postdocs, he studied on the chemical evolution of different ice surfaces by high energy electrons and photons. By combination of IR spectroscopy, QMS and time of flight MS, he investigated the formation of new molecules on the ice surfaces. He also focused on the probing of ice surfaces with surface sum frequency generation techniques. In JPL, his focuses is mostly concentrated on the Europa’s ice surfaces under high energy radiation.

Education

  • M.Sc & PhD in Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India (2013-2020)
  • B.Sc in St. Xavier’s college Kolkata (2010- 2013)

Professional Experience

  • Postdoctoral Scholar, Jet Propulsion Lab (2023-present)
  • Postdoctoral scholar at University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany (2021 -2022)
  • Postdoctoral scholar at University of Hawaii, USA (2020)
  • Teaching assistance for undergraduate students in physical chemistry laboratory (August- December 2015)

Research Interests

Astrochemistry & planetary science, Ultrafast spectroscopy

Selected Awards

  • Fellowship and awards: SERB International Travel Support Award (ITS/2018/001829) by Department of Science & Technology, India in 2018 for Ultrafast X-ray summer school conference, USA (2018).
  • Fellowship: Indian Institute of Science Fellowship (2013-2020).
  • Fellowship: Inspire Fellowship (2010-2013) by Department of Science & Technology, India.
  • Award: Best MS thesis project work
  • JAM (Joint Admission test for M.Sc.) All India Rank: 71

Selected Publications

  • Chandra, S.*, Bag S. (2022) Attochemistry of hydrogen bonded amide and thioamide model complexes in protein following vertical Ionization, Chemical Physics, 559, 111508.
  • Zhu, C., Eckhardt, A. K., Chandra, S., Turner, A. M., Schreiner, P. R., Kaiser, R. I.*(2021): Identification of A Prismatic P3N3 Molecule Formed from Electron Irradiated Phosphine- nitrogen Ices, Nat. Comm., 12, 5467.
  • Chandra, S.; Eckhardt A.K.; Turner A.; Tarczay G.; Kaiser R. I.*(2021): A Photoionization Study on the Detection of 1-Sila Glycolaldehyde (HSiOCH2OH), 2-Sila Acetic Acid (SiH3COOH), and 1,2-Disila Acetaldehyde(HSiOSiH3). Chem. Eur. J., 27, 4939 – 4945
  • Chandra, S.*(2019): Theoretical Investigation of Methanol Formation from Methane Water-Ice Cluster following Ionization. Molecular Astrophysics, 16, 100045.
  • Chandra, S.; Ansari, I. N.; Dixit, G.; Lepine, F.; Bhattacharya, A.*(2019): Experimental Evidence of Sensitivity of the High Harmonic Generation to Hydrogen Bonding. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2019, 123 (24), 5144-5149.
  • Chandra S.; Bhattacharya, A.*(2016): Attochemistry of Ionized Halogen, Chalcogen, Pnicogen and Tetrel Non-Covalent Bonded Clusters. J.Phys. Chem. A, Feature Article, 120, 10057-10071 7.
  • Chandra, S.; Periyasamy G.; Bhattacharya A.*(2015): On the ultrafast charge migration and subsequent charge directed reactivity in Cl⋯N halogen-bonded clusters following vertical ionization. J. Chem. Phys., 142, 244309-1 – 244309-13.