****Technical Abstract**** This NSF award will support experimental condensed matter physics research at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, an undergraduate institution. This project will seek to answer fundamental materials research questions that are also of technological relevance. Ultrafast optical techniques will be used to study thermal and acoustic phenomena thin films, crystals, and nanostructures. In particular, the project will include studies of novel phononic bandgap structures made from silicon, amorphous hydrogenated films (a-Si:H and a-SiC:H), and bulk crystals (GaAs, GaN, SiC, and AlN). The project is expected to contribute answers to long-standing questions regarding the contributions of long-wavelength phonons to thermal transport and phonon attenuation mechanisms in amorphous and crystalline structures. The results contributed by this project will have an impact on a number of technologies including microelectronics, solar cells, and thermoelectric devices. The NSF award will support undergraduate student research at one of the nation's premier liberal arts colleges. 6 summer research students will be funded during the three-year project and many other students will benefit from the expansion of laboratory equipment provided through the award.
This NSF award will support experimental materials physics research at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, an undergraduate institution. This project will seek to answer fundamental questions that are of technological relevance to the semiconductor and nanotech fields. Ultrafast lasers (which produce pulses less than a millionth of a millionth of a second in duration) will be used as a tool to study heat and ultrasound in novel, nanoscale structures made from silicon and other technologically important materials. A better understanding of the way heat and ultrasound transport energy in these materials will benefit ongoing research in a number of fields including microelectronics, solar energy, and thermoelectrics. The NSF award will support undergraduate student research at one of the nation's premier liberal arts colleges. 6 summer research students will be funded during the three-year project and many other students will benefit from the expansion of laboratory equipment provided through the award.
