BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Some of the world's biggest names in a field devoted to the world's smallest manmade things are coming to the University at Buffalo for a Symposium on Nanoscale Science and Technology on Oct. 23-24. Speakers will include Nobel Laureate J.C. Polanyi. and nine national academy of science or engineering members -- including Polanyi -- as well as other leaders in the field.
The conference will focus on chemistry, physics and engineering aspects of nanostructures, nanostructure devices, fabrication, and measurements and physics on the nanoscale. Topics will include molecular self-assembly approaches, the world's smallest devices, metallic nanoparticles, nanopores and new devices for data storage and optical communication.
Representatives from government agencies also will discuss grant opportunities in the field. Nanomaterials and structures measure from less than one millionth of a meter down to one billionth of a meter, many thousands of times smaller than a human hair, and yet they are radically changing how scientists and engineers design new materials for electronics and opto-electronics, drug-delivery, information storage and more.
Nanostructures and nanoparticles already appear in such diverse consumer products as the latest computer chips, where the electronic circuit elements are about 250 billionths of a meter; lasers for fiber-optic communication, and items as mundane as sunscreen, where ultra-small nanoparticles act to block harmful ultraviolet rays.
Members of the Center for Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials at UB work on many aspects of nanostructures and nanoparticles, ranging from physics and applications of semiconductor quantum "wells," quantum "wires" and quantum "dots," to carbon nanotubes for flat panel display applications. In addition, the university's Photonics Research Laboratory is pursuing research on nanophotonics, which deals with nanoscale optical processes.
The conference is sponsored by CAPEM and the Photonics Research Laboratory.