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The American Association for the Advancement of Science cited the smallest science for the biggest technological breakthrough of the year 2001. Scientists have succeeded in making electrical circuits at the molecular scale. These circuits can perform basic functions, including amplifying signals, inverting currents and performing simple computations. This marks a revolution in the field of nanoscience, one that absorbs the time of University of Arkansas researchers in physics, chemistry and engineering.
To make molecular circuits efficient and easy to use, researchers must first understand the science that governs them. Our researchers are studying the fundamental properties of "atomic sandwiches," using a Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) machine to create surfaces, quantum dots and wires one atom at a time and a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) to observe these structures.
Few institutions in the country have access to both types of equipment simultaneously, but thanks to the foresight of the Arkansas State Legislature, the National Science Foundation and our researchers, we now have one of the top facilities in the country for such work. Results coming out of University of Arkansas laboratories last year included a paper in Science on spintronics, the use of an electron's spin to generate power, and a paper in Nature on fundamental properties of ferroelectric materials used in medical ultrasound and naval sonar.
Nanoscience research on campus is further supported by a multi-year NSF grant for a Materials Research in Science and Education Center (MRSEC), which helped create the Arkansas-Oklahoma Center for Science in Physics and Nanostructures (CSPIN), a joint effort of the University of Arkansas and the University of Oklahoma. The other institutions that received MRSEC awards the same year include the California Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Virginia.
Our researchers work at the forefront of a potential revolution in science. The National Nanotechnology Initiative, an interagency government group that works to support the future of this promising technology, cites creating novel materials, building designer drugs, saving billions in energy costs and reducing pollution as a few of the advances this technology could bring to the world.
You will learn more about this exciting research in the pages that follow.
Happy reading,
John A. White
Chancellor, University of Arkansas