Nanoscale Solid State Physics

This course will treat the fundamentals and applications of nanoscale solid state physics for frontier science with a focus on sustainable energy and computing. Topics that will be discussed are nanoscale solutions for solar cells, including plasmonics, quantum confinement, up- and down-converters and Mie resonances. In relation to that, the science and applications of two dimensional materials will be treated. Battery science is very important for sustainable energy and therefore nanoscale solutions with respect to hydrogen and lithium storage will be discussed. Nanoscale for alternative computing, such as quantum computing and spintronics will be treated. Besides these fundamentals, the experimental techniques, such as scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), femto-second pulse probe ultra-fast spectroscopy, electrochemistry, optical spectroscopy, near field spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), modern synchrotron techniques such as Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS). Complementary simulation techniques such as finite difference time domain (FDTD) will be treated and used for exercises.

The students will know:
1) how nanostructures apply to novel concept solar cells, hydrogen/lithium storage/generation, quantum computing and spintronics.
2) solid state physics about semiconductors and hydrogen/lithium intercalation
3) various technical methods to characterise and understand these novel nanomaterials
4) to do simple simulations to understand the working of a novel concept solar cell.
5) To present and discuss state of the art information about solid state nanostructures for novel concept solar cells, hydrogen/lithium storage and computing