Engineering and control of metamaterials with negative refraction. This project will extend significantly the research activity on metamaterials in Australia, promoting this new field and aiming to solve high priority problems and paving the way to creation of practical sub-wavelength devices. This project is therefore of national benefit for its advances in critical fundamental research and for potential applications in a large number of engineering tasks in microwave and optical devices. The p ....Engineering and control of metamaterials with negative refraction. This project will extend significantly the research activity on metamaterials in Australia, promoting this new field and aiming to solve high priority problems and paving the way to creation of practical sub-wavelength devices. This project is therefore of national benefit for its advances in critical fundamental research and for potential applications in a large number of engineering tasks in microwave and optical devices. The project will initialize collaboration with world leading experts in the area, bringing important expertise to Australia. It will provide a greater acceptance of Australia as a major world player in fundamental research.Read moreRead less
Nonlinear metamaterials and transformation optics. This research program will bring Australia to the forefront of international research in the exciting area of nonlinear metamaterials. It will provide high-level training for students in breakthrough science directions, and contribute to the uptake of frontier technologies by Australian industries for successful operation in a competitive global environment. This project will introduce and demonstrate novel concepts for dynamically controlling a ....Nonlinear metamaterials and transformation optics. This research program will bring Australia to the forefront of international research in the exciting area of nonlinear metamaterials. It will provide high-level training for students in breakthrough science directions, and contribute to the uptake of frontier technologies by Australian industries for successful operation in a competitive global environment. This project will introduce and demonstrate novel concepts for dynamically controlling and manipulating the properties of new type of materials. This research should bridge a gap between the study of metamaterials as a theoretical curiosity and their advanced applications. Our developments will underpin future developments in imaging systems and security. Read moreRead less
Single atom defined nanostructures: atom-electronics beyond the miniaturization limit. The emerging era of atom-electronics promises to revolutionise microelectronics in the 21st century by going beyond the conventional miniaturization limit of microelectronics. Emerging atom level fabrication and control techniques offer the promise of building devices whose fundamental components are built atom-by-atom and function under completely new rules. This Discovery Project will apply critical new theo ....Single atom defined nanostructures: atom-electronics beyond the miniaturization limit. The emerging era of atom-electronics promises to revolutionise microelectronics in the 21st century by going beyond the conventional miniaturization limit of microelectronics. Emerging atom level fabrication and control techniques offer the promise of building devices whose fundamental components are built atom-by-atom and function under completely new rules. This Discovery Project will apply critical new theoretical tools, in partnership with leading experimental groups, to enable the exploration of this technology and the creation of new and innovative applications which will have far reaching implications in all areas of society and significant national benefit.Read moreRead less
Proximity effects and new correlated phases in closely spaced quantum electronic devices. The aim of this project is to understand the interactions between quantum electronic devices when they are brought into close proximity. A detailed knowledge of these interactions and how to control them is important both for conintued miniaturisation in the semiconductor industry, and for the fundamental understanding of new quantum ground states. To achieve these goals new coupled device designs will be e ....Proximity effects and new correlated phases in closely spaced quantum electronic devices. The aim of this project is to understand the interactions between quantum electronic devices when they are brought into close proximity. A detailed knowledge of these interactions and how to control them is important both for conintued miniaturisation in the semiconductor industry, and for the fundamental understanding of new quantum ground states. To achieve these goals new coupled device designs will be engineered in collaboration with NTT's Basic Research Laboratories in Japan. Theses novel devices will be used to study fundamental correlations in quantum semiconductor systems, with the possibility of forming new correlated states of matter such as electron-hole superfluids.Read moreRead less
Electronics with spin: Investigating spin-dependent electrical properties of semiconductor nano-devices. Devices such as the integrated circuit and semiconductor lasers are products of basic research, and form the basis of new industries that have revolutionised society. Quantum physics was the science of the 20th century and is likely to become a key technology of the 21st century. This project will keep Australia at the forefront of the search for new and potentially commercially useful applic ....Electronics with spin: Investigating spin-dependent electrical properties of semiconductor nano-devices. Devices such as the integrated circuit and semiconductor lasers are products of basic research, and form the basis of new industries that have revolutionised society. Quantum physics was the science of the 20th century and is likely to become a key technology of the 21st century. This project will keep Australia at the forefront of the search for new and potentially commercially useful applications of quantum physics. The project will also provide training for Australian students to work in a cutting-edge semiconductor research facility, and involves linkages with leading international laboratories including Massey University (NZ), the University of Cambridge (UK), and NTT Basic Research Labs (Japan). Read moreRead less
Enhancing the Understanding and Performance of Passivating TiO2 Coatings for Photovoltaic Devices. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been widely used as an antireflection coating in the silicon (Si) photovoltaics industry as it exhibits excellent optical properties and low deposition cost. However, recently manufacturers have been turning to alternatives such as hydrogenated silicon nitride coatings that exhibit greatly improved electronic properties, but cost 4 - 10 times more to deposit. This proj ....Enhancing the Understanding and Performance of Passivating TiO2 Coatings for Photovoltaic Devices. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been widely used as an antireflection coating in the silicon (Si) photovoltaics industry as it exhibits excellent optical properties and low deposition cost. However, recently manufacturers have been turning to alternatives such as hydrogenated silicon nitride coatings that exhibit greatly improved electronic properties, but cost 4 - 10 times more to deposit. This project seeks to understand the fundamental limitations behind the poor surface passivation afforded by TiO2 to a Si wafer, and subsequently develop a passivating TiO2 coating that can reduce the cost of electricity generated by Si solar cells.Read moreRead less
Magnetic Nanostructures for Emerging Technologies: Experimental and Theoretical studies. This project enables collaborations between Australian and European groups in an important and expanding area at the forefront of technology, and facilitates access to state of the art resources in laboratories in Austria and Spain. It carries across knowledge in synchrotron techniques just at the right time, just before the Australian synchrotron goes on line in 2008, allowing time to deepen expertise and t ....Magnetic Nanostructures for Emerging Technologies: Experimental and Theoretical studies. This project enables collaborations between Australian and European groups in an important and expanding area at the forefront of technology, and facilitates access to state of the art resources in laboratories in Austria and Spain. It carries across knowledge in synchrotron techniques just at the right time, just before the Australian synchrotron goes on line in 2008, allowing time to deepen expertise and to obtain specific knowledge. It will help establish a new effort at the University of Western Australia concentrated on developing advanced materials for technology. We will make important contributions to an internationally important area and offer high quality interdisciplinary research training in magnetic nanomaterials science.Read moreRead less
Fast and slow dynamics at coupled magnetic interfaces: Theory and Experiment. Immediate needs for advances in materials for spin electronics and information technology require a deeper physical understanding of new materials in which interfaces and nanometre dimensions determine properties. Interfacial exchange coupling between magnetic layers is a key issue in the formation of many multilayer structures, and several important issues remain unresolved. This is a proposal for a joint theoretical ....Fast and slow dynamics at coupled magnetic interfaces: Theory and Experiment. Immediate needs for advances in materials for spin electronics and information technology require a deeper physical understanding of new materials in which interfaces and nanometre dimensions determine properties. Interfacial exchange coupling between magnetic layers is a key issue in the formation of many multilayer structures, and several important issues remain unresolved. This is a proposal for a joint theoretical and experimental study of technologically important magnetic interfaces by groups at Universities of Florence, Perugia, Leeds and Western Australia.Read moreRead less
Magnetic ground state and dynamics in high temperature superconductors. This project is aimed at studies of novel advanced materials. It will contribute to research at the leading edge of fundamental physics. This is an international project that incorporates collaboration with two leading German experimental groups. This raises the profile of the project internationally. This collaboration may bring some experiments of overseas scientists to ANSTO OPAL reactor and hence facilitate interactions ....Magnetic ground state and dynamics in high temperature superconductors. This project is aimed at studies of novel advanced materials. It will contribute to research at the leading edge of fundamental physics. This is an international project that incorporates collaboration with two leading German experimental groups. This raises the profile of the project internationally. This collaboration may bring some experiments of overseas scientists to ANSTO OPAL reactor and hence facilitate interactions between Australian and overseas experimental groups.Read moreRead less
Does High Temperature Superconductivity Reside in Plane or Charge Reservoir (CR) Oxygen, in YBa2Cu3O7 (YBC)? One of the outstanding problems in contemporary solid state physics concerns the mechanism of high temperature superconductivity (HTS). In particular, what binds charges that normally repel one another, into (Cooper) pairs? Closely related to this question is where the superconductivity resides in the material. We aim to answer the latter question in the much studied prototypical HTS YBa2 ....Does High Temperature Superconductivity Reside in Plane or Charge Reservoir (CR) Oxygen, in YBa2Cu3O7 (YBC)? One of the outstanding problems in contemporary solid state physics concerns the mechanism of high temperature superconductivity (HTS). In particular, what binds charges that normally repel one another, into (Cooper) pairs? Closely related to this question is where the superconductivity resides in the material. We aim to answer the latter question in the much studied prototypical HTS YBa2Cu3O7. In doing so we expect to demonstrate that phonons, widely believed not to play a role in HTS are in fact an important component in the HTS pairing mechanism.Read moreRead less