[Aspuru-Guzik group list] Excitonics Seminar - Paul McEuen - TODAY, 3 pm, 36-428

Please post and forward to your groups ___________________________________ EXCITONICS SEMINAR SERIES [http://www.rle.mit.edu/excitonics/images/mceuen_001.jpg] Paul McEuen Department of Physics Cornell University Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science Light and Fast: Probing Carriers and Vibrations in 1D and 2D Materials Thursday, April 17, 2014 RLE Conference Room - 36-428 3:00 - 4:00pm Abstract: Carbon nanotubes and 2D atomic membrane materials cut across many disciplines with their remarkable optical, thermal, mechanical, and electronic properties. In this talk we will examine cases when a combination of properties, e.g. optical and mechanical, are simultaneously important. First, we will discuss ultrafast optoelectronic measurements of graphene p-n junctions that probe the fundamental thermal relaxation processes for excited carriers. Next, we will discuss experiments where circularly polarized light creates a valley polarization in an MoS2 monolayer, leading to a Hall effect in the absence of a magnetic field. Finally, we will discuss experiments where individual carbon nanotubes are picked up with micron sized tweezers. These tweezers double as electrical probes, allowing us to simultaneously study the optical, electronic, thermal, and vibrational properties of nanotubes as they are strained or buckled. Bio Paul L. McEuen is the Goldwin Smith Professor of Physics at Cornell University. He directs the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics and the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science. His research focuses on nanoscale electronic, optical, and mechanical properties of graphene, nanotubes, and related materials. He received his B.S. degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Oklahoma in 1985 and his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Yale University in 1991. He joined the faculty at UC-Berkeley in 1992 before coming to Cornell in 2001. Awards and honors include a Packard Foundation Fellowship, a National Young Investigator Fellowship, and the Agilent Europhysics Prize. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is also a novelist, and his scientific thriller SPIRAL was named the debut thriller of the year by the International Thriller Writers Association. Light refreshement will be served The Center for Excitonics is an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science and Office of Basic Energy Sciences