KINETICS OF FLUCTUATIONS IN NANO-DEVICES

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

This award supports theoretical research and education on the effect of nonequilibrium fluctuations on nanodevices. Recent advances in technology enable the controlled fabrication of nanostructured devices. A variety of novel nanodevices utilizing mechanical, electrical, magnetic, optical and other principals have been fabricated and studied. These devices have found a broad spectrum of applications and have stimulated fundamental questions. The nanodevices are driven far from equilibrium by applied currents, optical pulses or magnetic fields. As a result, their behavior is governed by strong nonequilibrium fluctuations. The main objective of this research is to elucidate the consequences of the nonequilibrium environment in nanodevices for dynamical bistability or quantum tunneling. The PI will combine developing novel theoretical methods and their application to engineered nanodevices. Collaboration with experimental groups from University of California at Irvine and University of Minnesota will provide testing grounds for theoretical predictions.

Graduate and undergraduate students and postdocs involved in the research will learn modern computational and theoretical techniques. Collaboration with experimentalists will broaden students intellectually. Research results will be disseminated through scientific publications, conference proceedings, and presentations at national and international conferences.

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

This award supports fundamental theoretical research and education on nanodevices that operate far from the steady state of equilibrium. Advances in nanotechnology have led to the fabrication and study of a variety of mechanical, electrical, magnetic, optical and other kinds of nanodevices. Operation of these ingenious machines is often based on principles fundamentally different from macroscopic devices. In many instances they are so small that thermal and possibly quantum mechanical fluctuations of their mechanical, magnetic degrees of freedom cannot be ignored. This requires development of a probabilistic description of device operation. In particular rare but large fluctuations may completely change the operation of a device. The PI will develop a new theoretical framework to describe the behavior of nanomachines and apply it to practical nanodevices.

Graduate and undergraduate students and postdocs involved in the research will learn modern computational and theoretical techniques. Collaboration with experimentalists will broaden students intellectually. Research results will be disseminated through scientific publications, conference proceedings, and presentations at national and international conferences.