The 'hard nano' research of the Institute has three major focus areas. Each of the three areas has long-term prospects for fundamental science applications and is an area of much activity within NQPI. In addition, NQPI has unique experimental and theoretical capabilities in these three areas which enable the institute to address these important topics.
Following are the 3 focus areas together with a description:
I. Nanoelectronics, Nanophotonics, Nanomagnetism, and Nanospintronics.
These four closely related areas represent the future for electronic, photonic, and magnetic devices which are constantly shrinking but rapidly approaching the ultimate limits of down-scaling – some are expected to be that of a single atom or a few atoms. It is in this limit that future technologies will operate; consequently, it is important to control material properties at the nanoscale. However, due to the intrinsic quantum behavior at this length scale, the electronic/magnetic properties cannot be simply explained by scaling down properties at the macroscale. The best example is furnished by the field of spintronics, in which the goal is to make use of the spin (a quantum property) of the electron for device applications.
II Nanoscale Properties, Manipulation, and Assembly.
This area includes in particular the use of various scanning probe techniques, a forte of the NQPI group, to both manipulate single atoms on substrates and probe their properties with atomic- or nano-scale spatial resolution, as well as methods of assembling nanoscale objects into larger arrays for novel applications.
III. Quantum Structures, Nanocrystals, and Nanosensors.
This area relates to nanoscale particles or objects having sizes in the range 1–100 nanometers. These can include zero-, one-, and two-dimensional objects such as quantum “dots” and quantum “wires”. This area also includes the exploration of the properties and applications of these objects using a variety of approaches. The unique properties of these devices make them potentially useful as sensors or active elements.