Events

Structured materials which allow nanoscale control of light are necessary for achieving compact, integrated photonic devices. Surface plasmon polaritons, coupled modes of free electron oscillations and photons, are low dimensional excitations, strongly confined at metal-dielectric interfaces. While the size of standard optical components is limited by the wave diffraction limit, these essentially two-dimensional waves may be confined to nanoscale dimensions much smaller than optical wavelengths.

Intrinsic changes in glass due to temperature may be detected by comparing the Stokes and Anti-Stokes Raman Back Scatter. Employed along a fiber optic, one may in this way measure temperature along distances >10,000 m with 1 m resolution. This can then be used to make multi-scale observations of complex environmental processes. We will present examples of double diffuse turbulent structures in deep mine shafts, lake dynamics, and rivers.

Spintronics explores the physics of interplay between spin and charge in condensed matter. It is one of the most active areas of magnetism. In particular, electrical manipulation of spin and magnetization in nanostructures allows us not only to study the interplay but can also be utilized to reverse magnetization direction, which is of great importance to nanoelectronics. In my lecture, I describe the nanoelectronics side and the science side of spintronics by discussing two topics that delineate the significance and technological importance of such spin manipulation in condensed matter.

The geometry of hyperbolas is the key to understanding special relativity.
The Lorentz transformations of special relativity are just hyperbolic
rotations, yet this point of view has all but disappeared from the standard
physics textbooks. This approach replaces the ubiquitous $\gamma$ symbol of
most standard treatments by the appropriate hyperbolic trigonometric
functions. In most cases, this simplifies the resulting formulas, while
emphasizing their geometric content.

Low cost and flexible integrated circuits will enable many new applications for our daily life. Amorphous silicon (a-Si) is the current material of choice for low-cost thin film transistors (TFTs) that are widely used as switching devices in active-matrix liquid-crystal displays. Organic (molecular crystals or polymeric) semiconductors with the advantages of flexibility and compatibility with solution-based low-cost processes (e.g. spin coating and ink jet printing) and plastic substrates are major candidates.