Electronic Materials

A major part of the Department's activities in research on advanced electronic materials takes place in the Sami Nasr Institute. This building houses some of the most up-to-date experimental facilities for the purpose. It is also home to laboratories belonging to the School of Physics and the School of Chemistry with whom the Department collaborates on projects of mutual interest. Work in advanced electronic materials includes applied research on liquid crystals devices for photonic and display applications; polymers for applications in bioengineering especially for contact lenses and adhesives. Control of textures in Liquid Crystal cells (from nm to micron) in a recently discovered twist bend nematic phase from this laboratory. The group also collaborates with CRANN.

Work on Silicon focuses on the fabrication of porous and grooved Silicon structures for optoelectronic applications, the measurement of the photonic properties of 1D crystals and the measurement and modelling of stress and composition in Silicon micro- and nano-structures.

Research in ferromagnetic fluids includes wideband measurement and analysis of the dynamic properties of magnetic fluids, gels and other nano-particle systems, magnetic and dielectric measurements, the study of magnetic composite materials, relaxation and resonance processes and surface effects in nano-particles and hysteresis and isotropic effects in magnetic colloidal suspensions of nano-particles and magnetic beads. There are theoretical studies of quantum dissipative systems and slow relaxation processes in condensed matter.

Principal Investigators

• Prof. J. K.Vij - liquid crystals; photonic applications.
• Prof. W. T. Coffey - quantum dissipative systems; relaxation processes in condensed matter.
• Prof. P. C. Fannin - ferromagnetic fluids; magnetic composite materials, nano-particle systems
• Dr. T. Perova - porous silicon microstructures;
• Dr. L Dowling - Digital Signal Processing, Spintronics, Modelling synchronous generators in a low inertia grid.