Future is Brilliant
Dr Taras Plakhotnik
School of Physical Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Physical Sciences and
Architecture, University of Queensland
Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 2.00pm, EN101, Ground Floor, Engineering Building, Hawthorn.
The current interest of the Optical Nano Probe Group at the
University of Queensland covers a broad range of topics which
include advanced methods of data analysis, electrodynamics of
visual receptors and energy transfer in nano structures, spectral
diffusion and charge transfer in semiconductor nano crystals,
and biochemical and optical properties of nano diamonds. As one
can judge from the title, the main focus of this talk will be on
diamonds but other activities will be explained briefly.
Diamond, a metastable state of carbon, possesses unique properties
(record values of hardness, refractive index, speed of sound, thermal
conductivity - the list seems endless) enabling a broad variety of
applications. When a diamond crystal is only few nanometers across,
a perspective of intercellular applications opens up. For example, the
existence of a large number of colour centres (among more than 100
options nitrogen related centres are of particular interest) makes a
nano diamond an ideal optical label. However, the metastable nature
of diamonds becomes a significant issue when its crystal consists of
only about 10,000 atoms. Other interesting phenomena are related
to the modification of the phonon modes caused by their tight
confinement in an extremely small volume. In my talk, I hope to
convince you that nano diamonds are not only effective suppliers of
challenging questions for fundamental physical sciences but also
encapsulate breathtaking biomedical applications which are only
waiting to be released. Nano diamonds are making an ideal
playground for new and unexpected developments.
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