Events

Organic semiconductor materials have attracted significant attention in recently as they offer significant advantages over traditional silicon technology including their low cost fabrication and tunability through functionalization of the molecules. Envisioned applications range from inexpensive solution processable solar cells to rewritable holographic displays. However, despite this interest in application, the nature of charge carrier photogeneration and transport in organic semiconductors is not completely understood and remains controversial.

The resources model of cognition is a potentially powerful way to conceptualize thinking and learning. For example, it may be helpful for students to use the conceptual resource of "more agent leads to more effect" when trying to understand the relationship between force (agent) and acceleration (effect), yet students often think of velocity as the effect, leading to an incorrect understanding of motion.

Modern optical physics comprises the myriad ways that matter and light interact. The interaction is mutual in that matter affects light and light affects matter. I will describe two research programs that illustrate some of the basic ways that light and matter interact. In the first program illustrating matter affecting light, we are using new solution-based techniques to fabricate optical elements. We have recently made multi-layer dielectric optical elements including wavelength dependent mirrors and a Fabry-Perot microcavity.

Tablet PCs are laptops with a stylus and digital ink that allows quick and easy creation of graphics, drawings, and equations. With wireless networking, these electronic materials can be rapidly shared and easily archived. In this talk, I will describe how these features � combined with appropriate software � can be used in lecture courses, discussion-based courses, and introductory laboratory courses. For instance, using the Ubiquitous Presenter software*, an instructor with a Tablet can ink prepared digital material (such as exported PowerPoint slides) in real time in class.

It has been theoretically accepted for a few decades that the entropy of a black hole is equal to a quarter of its surface area (in suitable units). And since around that time ideas have been developed about an entropy limit, similarly depending on the surface area, for any physical system. This research has developed into precise statements about a 'holographic principle,' which can crudely be summarized as follows.