I have read more papers about quantum dots in the past four days than was probably necessary, but here is some brief background.
Wikipedia defines a quantum dot as “a nanocrystal made of semiconductor materials that are small enough to exhibit quantum mechanical properties.” The semiconductor nanostructure confines the motion of conduction band electrons, valence band holes, or excitons in all three spatial directions. A quantum dot contains a small finite number of elementary electric charges and has a discrete quantized energy spectrum.
Quantum dots can be ‘tuned’ to release photons of light at a given frequency
What does this all mean? Semiconducting quantum dots are very appealing for a variety of applications and new technologies because of their unique size and composition tunable electronic and optical properties. Quantum dot applications range from photovoltaic/light emitting/photodetector devices to quantum computing and quantum information processing to medicine. If you ever have ten minutes to spare, google the applications of quantum dots (cancer treatment, LEDs, solar cells – the possibilites are endless!).
I’m spending my summer doing very detailed measurements of large quantum dots using spectroscopic techniques (in other words, fourier transforms and a whole bunch of lasers). I’m also going to learn about the production of quantum dots and a few techniques on how to grow them.
My first official day in lab was on Monday. Working here makes me feel so official and important – it’s absolutely wonderful. My name is on my office door! I’ve never had my name on a door before, so this is all very exciting. I also have a German keyboard and as fun as German keyboards can be, it makes it a struggle to type correctly with all the alphabets being in the wrong place.
My research group was attending a seminar by a visiting professor from UK on “Quantum Materials and Devices for Future Photonics and Electronics.” I tagged along in hopes that the lecture would be in English, but of course, he was a German native. Quantum Physics seminars are already fairly difficult to follow along. In fact, there were often times where I would sit in my introductory Quantum Physics class not knowing what was going on. So trying to follow a lecture on a subject that I can barely grasp in German was an absolute nightmare. I literally sat there with a blank expression on my face for two hours. Side note: the German word for molecule is moleküle. Can we all agree that moleküle sounds/looks more fun and start using that instead?
Then, I got a tour of the reinraum1, which my professor described as a “physicist’s playground,” and indeed, I felt like I was a 3 year old experiencing the joy of a tire swing for the very first time. To enter the reinraum, a cleanroom suit is required, which is a more extensive (and classier) version of the bunnysuit found in Chemistry labs at UT Austin, along with boots, gloves, goggles, and a face mask. I got my very own cleanroom suit with a tag that says, “Dhamani.” Like I said, so official! The reinraum is HUGE. In fact, all the laborataries here are a lot bigger and more equipped than the ones at UT Austin. I work at the Center of Nonlinear Dynamics in Austin, which is the entire 14th floor of the Physics/Astronomy/Math building. The reinraum is probably twice the size of CNLD! Inside the reinraum, there is more fancy equipment than I have ever seen in such close proximity. They have everything from solid-state lasers to molecular beam epitaxy.
I was given a brief lesson on working the MBE (molecular beam epitaxy) to grow quantum dots. There is an excessive use of gallium in MBE, which makes me so incredibly happy. Side note: gallium is my favorite element. If you have never seen a MBE machine, I suggest you look one up one right now. Later that day, I preformed some very basic spectroscopic measurements on the quantum dots. In other words, I played with green lasers in a dark room.
Despite being in Experimental Physics, I have spent the past two days working on theoretical calculations and reading/learning about quantum dots. The physics may be theoretical, but the fun is real. At this point, you could probably quiz me. I am supposed to start running experiments towards the end of this week, and I can’t wait! Theoretical physics is great and all, but it ain’t no lasers or gallium.
Random thoughts/scattered observations:
1. The lack of girls in Physics is universal. During our group meeting on Monday, I soon realized that not only was I the only American in my research group, but also the only undergraduate, and the only girl. For some reason, I find comfort in the lack of girls around here – it feels like home.
2. Instead of taking lunch breaks, everyone in the research group eats together, and often the professor joins us for lunch. I am so used to eating lunch by myself or running errands during my lunch break, so this is weird, but in a good way.
3. Coffee after lunch seems to be a sacred ritual in the Physics department.
Sorry about the lack of pictures and german words this time, but happy readin’ y’all!
Translation of German words:
1. Cleanroom
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