2003 Condensed Matter Physics Gordon Research; Connecticut College, New London, CT; June 22-27, 2003

该奖项为将于6月22日至27日在康涅狄格州新伦敦市康涅狄格学院举行的2003年戈登凝聚态物理研究会议提供部分支持。会议的标题是“电子和原子的软围栏”。“Corral”用来表示出于特定目的，电子在分子中的‘聚集’或限制。这可能会导致新的物理现象，量子效应等。“软”一词强调，围栏主要由“软物质”组成，如聚合物、有机分子等，而不是半导体、金属等硬物质。这个不寻常的术语试图总结一个重要的跨学科研究领域，它利用分子的自发自组装形成具有有趣电子性质的结构，或者可用作构建此类材料的支架。自组装依赖于许多弱键的存在来确定分子的形状，例如在蛋白质中。在特殊情况下，甚至蛋白质也可以用作畜栏。然而，一种塑造电子波的新策略来自更简单的小分子世界，这些小分子表现出自组织。例如，根据其浓度的不同，肥皂分子可以结合形成各种结构，有时是板状、光滑或肥皂状，有时是高尔夫球状，导致浑浊等。重要的是，这些结构位于纳米范围内，在那里量子和电子效应是可能的。过去，对自组装畜栏的研究重点一直集中在它们的分子结构上。在这次会议中，重点放在畜栏的电子和其他功能方面。NSF将为大约14名与会者、研究生、博士后和年轻教师提供支持。

This award provides partial support for the 2003 Gordon Research Conference on Condensed Matter Physics to be held at Connecticut College, New London, CT, June 22-27. The Conference title is "Soft Corrals for Electrons and Atoms". "Corral" is used to denote the 'corralling' or confinement of electrons in molecules for specific purposes. This can lead to new physical phenomena, quantum effects and so forth. The term "soft" emphasizes that the corrals are mostly composed of "soft matter", such as polymers, organic molecules, etc., in contrast to hard matter such as semiconductors, metals, etc. The unusual terminology is an attempt to summarize an important new interdisciplinary research area, which exploits spontaneous self-assembly of molecules into structures with interesting electronic properties, or which can be used as scaffolds to construct such materials. The self-assembly depends on the presence of many weak bonds to determine a molecular shape, as in a protein. In special cases, even proteins can be used as corrals. However a new strategy for shaping electron waves comes from the simpler world of smaller molecules that exhibit self-organization. For example, depending on their concentration, soap molecule can combine to form a vast range of structures, sometimes plate like, slippery, or soapy, sometimes golf-ball shaped, leading to turbidity, etc. The important point is that these structures lie in the nanometer range, where quantum and electronic effects are possible. In the past the focus of research on self-assembled corrals has been on their molecular structure. In this conference the emphasis is on the electronic, and other functional aspects of the corrals. The NSF will provide support for approximately 14 attendees, graduate students, post-docs, and younger faculty.