****NON-TECHNICAL ABSRTACT**** This award supports experimental solid-state physics research at an undergraduate institution. The project seeks to answer fundamental questions that are of relevance to the semiconductor and nanotechnology fields. Ultrafast lasers (which produce light pulses less than a millionth of a millionth of a second in duration) will be used as a tool to investigate heat and ultrasound in thin film materials. The thermal studies will focus on new materials that have a number of potential technological applications: amorphous carbon nitride and polymer-nanotube composites. The ultrasound studies will focus on studying the feasibility of using very high frequency (1000 times higher frequency than medical ultrasound) ultrasound to study nanostructures beneath the surface of silicon wafers. Computer simulations of the experimental work will also play a major role in the project. Undergraduate students will participate in the research projects, gaining training and hands-on experience in frontier scientific research. Through the research experience, the students will be well equipped to pursue a graduate education or to start a career in the semiconductor/nanotechnology industries.
This award supports experimental condensed matter physics research at an undergraduate institution. The project seeks to answer fundamental physics questions concerning materials and phenomena that are of technological relevance. Ultrafast optics will be used as a tool to elucidate nanoscale thermal transport in thin film materials and to probe coherent acoustic phonons (picosecond ultrasonics) in crystalline wafers. The thermal transport studies will focus on amorphous carbon nitride CN_x and polymer-nanotube composites. The acoustic phonon studies will focus on studying the effects of propagation through millimeter thick wafers on the spectral and temporal profile of the phonon pulses. This latter work should facilitate a novel phonon imaging scheme. Finite element simulations of the experimental work will also play a major role in the project. Undergraduate students will participate in the project, gaining training and hands-on experience in frontier scientific research. Through the research experience, the students will be well equipped to pursue a graduate education or to start a career in the semiconductor/nanotechnology industries.
