Mission, Contacts, and Sponsors
 
This is the Home of
Optical Nano Probe Laboratory
 
Our Mission
An obvious trend of  modern technology is the ever smaller size of fabricated devices. They are already just 100 times larger than the diameter of a sugar molecule and their characteristic scale shrinks by a factor of two approximately every five years. There is no reason to expect the rate to decrease in the nearest future. However already on the scale of one sugar molecule, classical physics is expected to be fundamentally flawed (strictly speaking, the border between classical and quantum world is very vague and depends on phenomena as well as the required accuracy for their description) and quantum effects are likely to emerge. Although the quantum laws are believed to be established, they are so complex that it is very difficult to predict theoretically how a future molecular-scale device will operate. Therefore, instruments to measure properties of matter on a nanometer scale, a scale of one molecule are needed.
  1. How such an instrument can be built?
  2. Where are the practical/fundamental limits for sensitivity?
  3. How should the inevitable fluctuations be dealt with?
These are examples of questions which we are trying to answer.
 
Contact us: Physics
                    School of Physical Sciences
                    University of Queensland
                    Brisbane, St Lucia, QLD 4072
                    Australia
                    Dr Taras Plakhotnik
                    Fax: 61 (0)7 336 51242
                    Phone: 61 (0)7 334 69683
 
 
Read what the mass-media has to say  about us:
Our Sponsors: