U.S.-Japan Seminar: Nanoscale Thermal Science and Engineering

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

0135632 Majumdar This award supports the participation of American scientists in a U.S.-Japan seminar on nanoscale thermal science and engineering to be held in San Francisco, California from June 25-28, 2002. The co-organizers are Professor Arunava Majumdar of the University of California, Berkeley and Professor Ken Okazaki at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. Both Japan and the U.S. are deeply committed to the emerging field of nanotechnology. This seminar will present an opportunity to share their knowledge in the area of nanoscale thermophysics and energy conversion, which is key to nanotechnology. Examples of this include: transport and interactions between electrons, phonons, and photons in low-dimensional nanostructures (semiconductor superlattices, nanowires, quantum dots); novel thermoelectric and optoelectronic phenomena and devices on nanostructured; thin film growth and cluster formation; experimental techniques involving scanning probe microscopes; femtosecond laser diagnostics and probing of materials; and molecular dynamic and Monte Carlo simulations of energy conversion and transport of nanostructures. Although a lot of effort in the past has been directed towards understanding the electronic and materials behavior of nanostructures, the thermophysics of nanostructures and nanodevices as well as biomolecular transport phenomena in micro/nanodevices have not been adequately addressed. It must be recognized that although the nature of physical phenomena at nanometer scales can be quite diverse, they must all satisfy the basic laws of thermodynamics. Hence thermophysics at nanometer scales provides a unique window to study a wide variety of phenomena. For biomolecular analysis, there is tremendous opportunity to use the thermodynamics and fluidics of biomolecules such as DNA and proteins to understand their transport and transformations, which are both fundamental in biotechnology. The project advances international human resources through the participation of many junior faculty, postdocs and graduate students. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation. The researchers plan to publish results of the research in the Journal "Microscale Thermophysical Engineering."