Development of Spectroscopic Instrumentation for Research and Student Training Involving Confined Fluids and Friction

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0076392GranickThis is an instrument development award to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The PI will develop a new instrument for spectroscopic studies of confined fluids. Prior work on confined fluids by force-based methods now poses scientific questions that require spectroscopic study for definitive answer. This will be the first such experimental platform for integrated spectroscopic and force-based measurements and will take advantage of the fact that modern laser instrumentation has advanced to the point that it can be used productively for materials research by students who are relatively unsophisticated in ultrafast lasers, yet expert in nanorheology. Specifically, an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) pumped by a femtosecond laser will be needed to (a) generate time-resolved vibrational spectra using sum frequency generation (SFG) with broad-band detection for heightened time resolution; and (b) measure, using time-resolved fluorescence depolarization (FD) after two-photon excitation, molecular rotational times when the thickness of fluid films becomes comparable to the size of molecules themselves.***This is an instrument development award to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. A new instrument for spectroscopic studies of confined fluids will be developed. Micro and nano-devices will have enormous impact on next generation technology. This new ultra small technology will significantly improve the performance of already existing robots, computers, communication, and other electro/opto/mechanical devices. While initial efforts have been principally devoted to the fabrication and electrical performance, recent studies have discovered a profound deleterious influence of friction and wear on the efficiency, power output, and steady state speed of micro-dynamics devices. Friction imposes serious constraints and limitations on the performance and lifetime of micro-machines and, undoubtedly, will impose even more severe constraints on the emerging technology of nano-machines. To make the needed future advances in micro- and nano-technology, a fundamental understanding of the operational, friction, and wear characteristics is paramount. Reducing wear and friction has a profound economic impact. By most recent estimates, improved attention to friction and wear would save developed countries up to 1.6% of their gross national product - over $100 billion annually in the United States alone. The expected outcome of this new instrumentation will be to leapfrog our ability to define, predict, and control frictional properties of sliding nano-objects. It will cut across traditional disciplinary lines; it will train engineers to take a chemical point of view and will train chemists and physicists to work productively in the field of friction.