Â’ Nanoscale metallic structures are promising platforms for sensors: using photons to launch surface plasmon "polaritons", metallic nanowires can guide and re-emit light over tens of microns. The re-emission of light at the other end of a nanowire can be promoted or altered by adsorption of molecules.

In a collaboration with an industrial manufacturer of aerosol jet printers (Optomec, Inc.), Lodge, Frisbie, and their students have demonstrated successful low voltage operation of an array of ion-gel gated OFETs printed on flexible polyimide substrates. Every component of the OFETs was printed--the metal electrodes (gold colloidal ink), the semiconductor (poly(3-hexylthiophene), and the gate insulator (the new ion gel material).

The continual decrease in microelectronic device feature size, captured in the famous "Moore's Law", has come in part from a decrease in the wavelength of light used in the photolithographic steps used to pattern these features. Today, the most advanced production photolithography uses 193 nm ultraviolet (UV) light from an ArF excimer laser. At such short wavelengths, control of the polarization of the light becomes critical for achieving minimum feature size.

While electronics have become much smaller and more powerful, an elusive goal has been to "print" these tiny devices rapidly over very large areas.While electronics have become much smaller and more powerful, an elusive goal has been to "print" these tiny devices rapidly over very large areas. The ability to do so could lead to larger and less expensive video displays in the near-term and wide-area sensors or medical devices in the longer term.

1 The Martin Fisher School of Physics, Brandeis University 2 Department of Physics, Brown University

Myelin figures are long thin cylindrical structures that grow when water is added to the concentrated lamellar phase of certain surfactants such as soap. The Sidney Nagel and Tom Witten groups at the University of Chicago developed a method to produce isolated myelin figures, based on previous investigations of ring stain formation pioneered at the MRSEC. This allowed them to study their growth and stability in detail.

The article entitled "Synthesis and Electrical Characterization of the Polymorphic Indium Tin Oxide Nanocrystalline Powders"  received the Edward C. Henry Award from the American Ceramic Society for the best Electronics Division paper in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society during 2006.

Liquid–liquid phase separation in bulk proceeds through the continuous coalescence of droplets until the system undergoes complete phase separation. But when colloids, nanoparticles or proteins are confined to interfaces, surfaces or membranes, their interactions differ fundamentally from those mediated by

With a particular focus on engaging and including Native Americans in its entire range of programs, GEMSEC is weaving a fabric of education offerings to seamlessly support and complement its research thrusts.