Nanoscience

Part of Experimental Condensed Matter/AMO Physics

In 2004, the university administration invested in an initiative which has evolved into the Peterson Institute of NanoScience and Engineering (PINSE). A section of the Benedum Hall Engineering Center has been renovated into a clean room for a nanofabrication and characterization facility, which will be available to faculty across Departments of the Schools of Arts and Sciences and of Engineering. PINSE is a joint effort between the two schools, and is being directed by Prof. Hrvoje Petek from Physics and Astronomy and Prof. Hong-Koo Kim from Electrical Engineering. The primary focus of the Clean Room facility in the initial stage will be to establish state-of-the-art facilities for nanofabrication. As the funds become available and the user base grows, PINSE will also acquire equipment and capabilities for nanocharacterization. The major equipment that has been purchased includes a Raith e-beam lithography machine, JEOL transmission electron microscope, and Seiko dual-beam fast ion-beam lithography tool.



Within the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Levy, and Petek are actively involved in nanoscience research that is strongly connected to PINSE. Levy’s research on quantum computing requires the fabrication of <10 nm Ge quantum dot arrays on Si substrates, which will form single qubits for optical manipulation of single spins. Petek is using nanolithography capabilities to generate metallic plasmonic nanostructures by patterning Si substrates. He and his group have developed a hybrid technique combining electron microscopy with femtosecond laser excitation, which is capable of imaging of plasmonic excitations in metallic nanostructures with <50 attosecond phase and 50 nm spatial resolution.