Spring 2018-2020
030.403 “Physical Chemistry Instrumentation Laboratory II”
Course Description
This second installment of the Physical Chemistry Instrumentation Lab will focus on both classical and modern experiments in the spectroscopy of chemical compounds. Lab experiments will focus on using optical, magnetic, and electronic methods to probe the properties of matter. The last experiment of the semester will harken back to the electronic circuits you were exposed to in PChem Lab I, and you will have the opportunity to build an optical amplifier from physical circuit components and to do real-world tests with it! Lectures will focus on introducing modern and state-of-the-art spectroscopic techniques that are beyond the scope of the course, but nevertheless build on classical tools conceived decades ago.
Fall 2015-2020
030.403 “Optoelectronic Materials and Devices”
Course Description
This course provides an introduction to the vast chemistry and physics of solid-state materials. The course begins with a fundamental description of bonding in crystalline solids and calculation of electronic band structure. We then extend our discussion to methods for the synthesis of low-dimensional materials and hierarchical structures, including quantum dots (0D), nanowires/nanotubes (1D), graphene and other atomic monolayers (2D), and thin-film superlattices. An in-depth discussion of spectroscopic and characterization techniques for solid-state materials will follow and focus on some of the foundational studies of quantum devices and cooperative phenomena. At this stage we will describe recent advances in electron and other microscopies (e.g. aberration-corrected and energy filtered TEM, atom-probe tomography) that are revolutionizing the structural, compositional, and electronic characterization of materials. The course will conclude with a survey of contemporary topics in solid-state and nanomaterials science, including functional devices and circuits, assembly, energy conversion, and biological sensing.