Nanoscale physics

我的研究计划旨在对纳米结构的物理学有一个基本的了解，纳米结构是一种尺寸从大约一纳米到几百纳米的系统。纳米结构的性质不同于单个原子的性质，也不同于宏观日常物体的性质。它们在从信息处理到医学的各种应用中的重要性得到了广泛的认可。这里提出的研究将有许多重点：我们将发展电荷和自旋通过单分子磁体的传导理论，这些理论可能会在极高密度磁存储器或量子信息处理中得到应用。最近已经开始在电路中插入这种单个分子的实验，我们提出的研究旨在从理论上从根本上理解这种系统的行为。我们还将继续我们在水溶液中通过接触金属电极的纳米级蛋白质片段进行导电的理论研究。这项理论工作将探索不同类型的蛋白质片段在经历电化学门控时如何传导电流，以及电子和分子振动之间的相互作用对此的影响。这一基础研究可能最终导致基于蛋白质的实用生物纳米电子器件的实现。我们还将发展其他分子电子系统中的量子输运理论。我们还将发展通过石墨烯纳米带的导电理论，即碳原子带几纳米宽，单原子层厚。我们将集中讨论它们的量子输运性质如何受到吸附的化学物种和其他缺陷的影响，以及由电子-电子相互作用产生的许多体效应。这种石墨烯纳米结构的性质目前是人们非常感兴趣的基本问题，更好的理解可能会导致实际应用。因此，所有拟议的研究都有望在理论上更好地理解新的纳米系统，并可能促进创造有潜力使加拿大受益的新技术。

My research program is directed at obtaining a fundamental understanding of the physics of nanostructures, systems with dimensions in the range from about a nanometer to a few hundred nanometers. Nanostructures have properties that differ from those of individual atoms and from those of macroscopic everyday objects. Their importance for applications ranging from information processing to medicine is widely recognized. The research proposed here will have a number of foci: We will develop theories of the conduction of electric charge and spin through single-molecule magnets that may find applications as extremely high density magnetic memories or in quantum information processing. Experiments have begun recently inserting individual molecules of this kind into electric circuits and our proposed research is aimed at understanding the behavior of such systems theoretically at a fundamental level. We will also continue our theoretical studies of electrical conduction through nanoscale protein fragments contacted with metal electrodes in aqueous electrolytes. This theoretical work will explore how different kinds of protein fragments conduct electric current when subjected to electrochemical gating and the effect on this of interactions between electrons and molecular vibrations. This fundamental research may eventually lead to the realization of practical protein-based bio-nanoelectronic devices. We will also develop theories of quantum transport in other molecular electronic systems. We will also develop theories of electrical conduction through graphene nanoribbons, i.e., ribbons of carbon atoms several nanometers wide and a single atomic layer thick. We will focus on how their quantum transport properties are affected by adsorbed chemical species and other defects, and by many body effects arising from electron-electron interactions. The properties of such graphene nanostructures are at present of great fundamental interest and improved understanding may lead to practical applications. Thus all of the proposed research is expected to achieve a better theoretical understanding of novel nanoscale systems and may facilitate the creation of new technologies with potential to benefit Canada.