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OCTOBER 09, 2002 | ||
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Charles Hanna, a professor of physics at Boise State University, has been awarded a nationally competitive research grant from the National Science Foundation to carry out nanoscience research. Nanoscience and nanotechnology study ultra-miniaturized systems that are formed by manipulating individual atoms and molecules to create tiny but complex electronic devices. Nanoscale materials are widely regarded as essential to the future of the computing, optical, aerospace, electronics and biomedical industries. The NSF’s Division of Materials Research awarded Hanna’s research project, "Broken Symmetry States of Confined Interacting Electrons," a three-year grant of $105,000. The project involves modeling low-temperature quantum systems confined to two dimensions, especially electrons in layered semiconductors and bosons in rotating laser traps. According to Hanna, the research project will help expand scientific understanding of how interacting electrons and interacting bosons behave when they are confined to nanoscale dimensions, some tens or hundreds of nanometers in size. One nanometer is a billionth of a meter. Bosons are particles, like photons or helium nuclei, which can join together to form huge single quantum states. The tendency of a collection of identical bosons to form a single quantum state is the physical basis of lasers, superconductors, and superfluids, which are liquids that are free of friction and can flow practically forever. Hanna is the coordinator of the Boise State nanoscience research team that recently received $1.2 million as part of a statewide NSF EPSCoR project to study and develop nanoscale materials. This is his second NSF individual-investigator grant related to nanoscale physics. Hanna is also a previous recipient of a Cottrell College Science Award grant from the Research Corporation, and is a former ITP Scholar at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Hanna's research program actively involves Boise State University undergraduates in carrying out the research. Contact:
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