[UCI-CalIT2] Seminar on Nanotech May 19 -- Andrew Cleland

[Stuart A ROSS]

Cal-(IT)2 presents another speaker in the series on Molecular
Nanotechnology and Quantum Information Science

"NANOMECHANICAL AND NANOTHERMODYNAMIC DEVICES"

Andrew N. Cleland
Department of Physics
University of California, Santa Barbara


Monday, May 19
Engineering Gateway 3161
Seminar begins at 4:00 PM
Refreshments available at 3:45 PM

ABSTRACT:  
Our group at UC Santa Barbara has been integrating active electronic
devices with nanomechanical systems, in order to probe both the
mechanical and thermodynamic behavior of the integrated system.  I will
discuss experiments in which we use superconductor-insulator-normal
metal (SIN) tunnel junctions to implement a nanoscale bolometer and
calorimeter, with which we have been able to confirm the observation of
the quantum of thermal conductance, as well as to directly measure
dynamic electron-phonon coupling; we can directly measure a
sub-microsecond thermal time constant.  The performance of the bolometer
indicates it may be possible to count THz frequency photons.  I will
also describe our recent results in displacement sensing using an
integrated single electron transistor, with which we have demonstrated a
displacement sensitivity of 2 X 10^(-15)m/Hz^(1/2), monitoring a
sub-picogram, 100 MHz resonant beam of GaAs.  I will briefly discuss the
potential application of these types of integrated probes for
quantum-limited measurements.

THE SPEAKER:
Dr. Cleland received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, working on
superconductive devices, where he demonstrated macroscopic quantum
tunneling and single-electron charging effects in Josephson junctions.
He then spent one year as a visiting scientist in Saclay, France,
developing single-electron circuits, demonstrating a optical photon
counter based on the single-electron transistor.  He then worked as a
research fellow at Caltech for four years, where he developed methods
for fabricating and measuring nanomechanical devices working in the
radiofrequency band, and used this technology to demonstrate a
mechanical electrometer with a sensitivity of better than a tenth of an
electron.  In 1997 Dr. Cleland was appointed to the faculty at UC Santa
Barbara, where he has been integrating superconducting and
single-electron devices with nanomechanical systems, developing
technology for photon counting, bolometry, and quantum-limited
displacement sensing.  Dr. Cleland is also faculty member of the
California Nanosystems Institute.