POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH
Condensed Matter Physics
The
Quantum Electronic Devices Group studies the fundamental electronic
and magnetic properties of advanced nanostructure devices. Research
students use state-of-the-art semiconductor clean-room processing
equipment to fabricate these devices, and ultra-low temperatures
and sensitive electronics to study them. Students regularly make
international trips to conferences and to visit collaborators
- the group has active links with leading laboratories in the
USA, UK (Cambridge), Japan (NTT), Denmark (Niels-Bohr Institute)
and Italy.
Semiconductor
Nanostructures: We are world leaders in fabricating p-type
quantum wires, which show outstanding electrical properties and
possibilities for spintronics applications. High-resolution electron
beam lithography is used to fabricate nanoscale devices from custom
grown ultra-low disorder GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructures. The project
will also develop devices with both electrons and holes, where
the attractive Coulomb interaction may allow the formation of a bosonic
superfluid.
High
speed quantum devices: Most quantum devices are studied
at low speeds (<1kHz). Higher speeds(~1GHz) provide new tools
for probing many body quantum states (c.f. the 1998 Nobel prize
in Physics). This project will study high-frequency properties
of quantum wires, and the change in ‘noise’ when an excitonic
superfluid forms.
Organic
electronics and new nanofabrication techniques: Projects
are available to use soft-lithography to develop new devices based
on organic molecules and carbon nanotubes. This has the potential to
allow the electrical properties to be tailored with suitable chemical
preparation.
See www.phys.unsw.edu.au/QED for details or contact A/Prof.
Alex Hamilton, Dr.
Adam Micolich .
