The discovery of organic- and molecule-based magnets has led to design and synthesis of several families with magnetic ordering temperatures as high as ∼125°C. Examples of soft and hard magnets with coercivities as high as 27 kOe have also been reported. Examples from our laboratory of organic-based magnets using the tetracyanoethylene radical anion, [TCNE]^•−, are discussed. In addition, several molecule-based magnets based on Prussian Blue structured materials as well as dicyanamide are discussed.

We review some of our recent experimental results on charge transport in organic nanostructures such as self-assembled monolayer and monolayers of organic semiconductors. We describe a molecular rectifying junction made from a sequential self-assembly on silicon. These devices exhibit a marked current-voltage rectification behavior due to resonant transport between the Si conduction band and the π molecule highest occupied molecular orbital of the π molecule. We discuss the role of metal Fermi level pinning in the current-voltage behavior of these molecular junctions. We also discuss some recent insights on the inelastic electron tunneling behavior of Si/alkyl chain/metal junctions.

Soft matter, like colloidal suspensions and surfactant gels, exhibit strong response to modest external perturbations. This paper reviews our recent experiments on the nonlinear flow behaviour of surfactant worm-like micellar gels. A rich dynamic behaviour exhibiting regular, quasi-periodic, intermittency and chaos is observed. In particular, we have shown experimentally that the route to chaos is via Type-II intermittency in shear thinning worm-like micellar solution of cetyltrimethylammonium tosylate where the strength of flow-concentration coupling is tuned by the addition of sodium chloride. A Poincaré first return map of the time series and the probability distribution of laminar length between burst events show that our data are consistent with Type-II intermittency. The existence of a ‘Butterfly’ intensity pattern in small angle light scattering (SALS) measurements performed simultaneously with the rheological measurements confirms the coupling of flow to concentration fluctuations in the system under study. The scattered depolarised intensity in SALS, sensitive to orientational order fluctuations, shows the same time-dependence (like intermittency) as that of shear stress.

We discuss specular reflectivity and off-specular scattering of neutrons and X-rays from magnetic films. Both these techniques are capable of providing information about the morphology of the chemical and magnetic roughness and the magnetic domain structure. The use of neutrons with polarization analysis enables the spatial distribution of different vector components of the magnetization to be determined, and the use of resonant magnetic X-ray scattering enables magnetization in a compound system to be determined element-selectively. Thus both these methods provide powerful and complementary new probes for studying magnetism at the nanoscopic level in a variety of systems such as those exhibiting exchange bias, giant magnetoresistance, spin injection, etc. We shall illustrate with an example of both techniques applied to an exchange bias system consisting of a single crystal of antiferromagnetic FeF₂ capped with a ferromagnetic Co film, and discuss what has been learned about how exchange bias works in such a system.

A simple method, based on the proximity effect of electron beam lithography, alleviated by exposing various shapes in the pattern of incident electron exposures with various intensities, was applied to fabricate silicon point-contact devices. The drain current (I_d) of the device oscillates against gate voltage. The electrical characteristics of the single-electron transistor were observed to be consistent with the expected behavior of electron transport through gated quantum dots, up to 150 K. The dependence of the electrical characteristics on the dot size reveals that the I_d oscillation follows from the Coulomb blockade by poly-Si grains in the poly-Si dot. The method of fabrication of this device is completely compatible with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology, raising the possibility of manufacturing large-scale integrated nanoelectronic systems.

Organic solar cells using the CuPc and PTCBI semiconductor layers were studied. A high open circuit voltage of 1.15 V was obtained in a device with ITO/PEDOT:PSS/CuPc (15 nm)/PTCBI (7 nm)/Al structure. Results were interpreted in terms of a modified CuPc-Al Schottky diode for the thin PTCBI case and a CuPc-PTCBI heterojunction for the thick PTCBI case. Also, the formation of a thin aluminum oxide layer under the aluminum electrode was postulated. This layer has a beneficial aspect wherein shunting losses are reduced and a high photovoltage is enabled. However, it adds greatly to the series resistance to a point where the short circuit current density is reduced. CuPc Schottky diodes with an ITO/PEDOT:PSS/CuPc/Al structure yielded a high V_oc of 900 mV for a CuPc layer of thickness 140 nm. The V_oc increased with increase in CuPc layer thickness.

The understanding of mesoscopic transport has now attained an ultimate simplicity. Indeed, orthodox quantum kinetics would seem to say little about mesoscopics that has not been revealed — nearly effortlessly — by more popular means. Such is far from the case, however. The fact that kinetic theory remains very much in charge is best appreciated through the physics of a quantum point contact. While discretization of its conductance is viewed as the exclusive result of coherent, single-electron-wave transmission, this does not begin to address the paramount feature of all metallic conduction: dissipation. A perfect quantum point contact still has finite resistance, so its ballistic carriers must dissipate the energy gained from the applied field. How do they manage that? The key is in standard many-body quantum theory, and its conservation principles.

Highly ordered composite nanowires with multilayer Ni/Cu and NiFe/Cu have been fabricated by pulsed electrodeposition into nanoporous alumina membrane. The diameter of wires can be easily varied by pore size of alumina, ranging from 30 to 100 nm. The applied potential and the duration of each potential square pulse determine the thickness of the metal layers. The nanowires have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), magnetic force microscopy (MFM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements. The MFM images indicate that every ferromagnetic layer separated by Cu layer was present as single isolated domain-like magnet. This technique has potential use in the measurement and application of magnetic nanodevices.

The Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CeNSE) at the University of Kentucky is a multidisciplinary group of faculty, students, and staff, with a shared vision and cutting-edge research facilities to study and develop materials and devices at the nanoscale.

Current research projects at CeNSE span a number of diverse nanoscience thrusts in bio-engineering and medicine (nanosensors and nanoelectrodes, nanoparticle-based drug delivery), electronics (nanolithography, molecular electronics, nanotube FETs), nanotemplates for electronics and gas sensors (functionalization of carbon nanotubes, aligned carbon nanotube structures for gate-keeping, e-beam lithography with nanoscale precision), and nano-optoelectronics (nanoscale photonics for laser communications, quantum confinement in photovoltaic devices, and nanostructured displays).

This paper provides glimpses of this research and future directions.

Bose-Einstein condensation and superfluidity are well known to occur in the dilute gaseous as well as in the dense liquid state of matter having a fixed number of Bose particles. Very recently, experimental evidence has been obtained for the probable realization of BEC and superfluidity in ⁴He in the solid state too, as revealed through its non-classical rotational moment of inertia — smaller than that for the solid. Such a solid that can also subtend a flow as superfluid — and hence a supersolid — is indeed a surprise of condensed matter physics. In this conversation, an order-parameter description for the supersolid state will be given in which the superfluid flow is decoupled from the crystalline density modulation which remains at rest in the laboratory frame, thus giving it a nonclassical inertia.

We shall discuss magnetization and transport measurements in materials exhibiting a broad first-order transition. The phase transitions would be caused by varying magnetic field as well as temperature, and we concentrate on ferro- to antiferromagnetic transitions in magnetic materials. We distinguish between metastable supercooled phases and metastable glassy phase.

Langmuir Blodgett (LB) process is an important route to the development of organized molecular layered structures of a variety of organic molecules with suitably designed architecture and functionality. LB multilayers have also been used as templates and precursors to develop nano-structured thin films. In this article, studies on the molecular packing and three-dimensional structure of prototypic cadmium arachidate (CdA), zinc arachidate (ZnA) and mixed CdA-ZnA LB multilayers are presented. The formation of semiconducting nano-clusters of CdS, ZnS and Cd_xZn_1−xS alloys within the organic multilayer matrix, using arachidate LB multilayers as precursors is also discussed.

We review the unusual structural, transport and magnetic properties of highly conducting polyaniline, doped with boron trifluoride. Our studies establish the unique conducting state of this system, which is in distinct contrast with the conventional proton-doped polyaniline samples.

By subjecting materials to high pressures one can significantly reduce interatomic and intermolecular distances. This causes drastic changes in the nature of electronic and vibrational states and also in bonding, bringing about several unusual structural, electronic and magnetic phase transitions. In addition, these studies provide a very useful data about the equation of state of the materials of interest. Several examples from our work are presented which elucidate the richness of physics under these conditions.

Nickel substitution at the cobalt site in Na_0.75CoO₂ induces an upturn in the resistivity on lowering the temperature, with the metal-to-insulator transition temperature (T_MIT) increasing with the Ni content. Low temperature far infrared measurements on polycrystalline samples of Na_0.75CoO₂ and Na_0.75Co_0.95Ni_0.05O₂, the latter having T_MIT ∼ 175 K, have been carried out. Dramatic changes in the Na mode frequencies, and relative intensities of the out-of-plane modes corresponding to the two Na sites are observed, coincident with the MIT in Na_0.75Co_0.95Ni_0.05O₂. It is argued that these changes are associated with a charge ordering of the CoO₂ layer, associated with the metal-insulator transition.

A national facility for neutron beam research is operated at the research reactor Dhruva at Trombay in India. The research activities involve various nanoscale structural, dynamical and magnetic investigations on materials of scientific interest and technological importance. Thermal neutron has certain special properties that enable, e.g., selective viewing of parts of an organic molecule, hydrogen or water in materials, investigations on minerals and ceramics, and microscopic and mesoscopic characterization of bulk samples. The national facility comprises of eight neutron-scattering spectrometers in the reactor hall, and another four spectrometers in the neutron-guide laboratory. In addition, a neutron radiography facility and a detector development laboratory are located at APSARA reactor. All the instruments including the detectors and electronics have been developed within BARC. A new powder diffractometer (PD-3) is being developed by UGC-DAE-CSR. The national facility is utilized in collaboration with various universities and other institutions.

Rare earths exhibit complex magnetic phase diagrams resulting from the competition between various contributions to the magnetic energy: exchange, anisotropy and magnetostriction. The epitaxy of a rare-earth film on a substrate induces (i) a clamping to the substrate and (ii) pseudomorphic strains. Both these effects are shown to lead to modifications of the magnetic properties in (0 0 1)Dy, (0 0 1)Tb and (1 1 0)Eu films. In Dy and Tb films, spectacular variations of the Curie temperature have been evidenced. Additionally, Tb films exhibit a new large wavelength magnetic modulation. In Eu films, one of the helical magnetic domains disappears at low temperature whereas the propagation vectors of the other helices are tilted. The link between structural and magnetic properties is underlined via magnetoelastic models. Moreover, molecular beam epitaxy permits the growth of Sm in a metastable dhcp phase. The magnetic structure of dhcp Sm has been elucidated for the first time. In this review, neutron scattering is shown to be a powerful technique to reveal the magnetic structures of rare-earth films.

Surface photovoltage (SPV) spectroscopy has been used for the first time to explore Landau levels of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in modulation doped InP/InGaAs/InP QW in the quantum Hall regime. The technique gives spectroscopically distinct signals from the bulk Landau levels and the edge states. Evolution of the bulk Landau levels and the edge electronic states is investigated at 2.0 K for magnetic field up to 8 T using SPV spectroscopy.

By suitable design it is possible to achieve quasi-ballistic transport in semiconductor nanostructures over times up to the ps-range. Monte-Carlo simulations reveal that under these conditions phase-coherent real-space oscillations of an electron ensemble, generated by fs-pulses become possible in wide potential wells. Using a two-color pump-and-probe technique we have been able to observe this new phenomenon in excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions. Apart from its fundamental significance, ballistic transport in nanostructures can also be used for high-efficiency coherent THz-sources. The concept of these THz-emitters and its experimental confirmation will also be presented.

The effect of confinement from one, two or from all three directions on magnetic ordering has remained an active field of research for almost 100 years. The role of dipolar interactions and anistropy are important to obtain, the otherwise forbidden, ferromagnetic ordering at finite temperature for ions arranged in two-dimensional (2D) arrays (monlayers). We have demonstrated that conventional low-temperature magnetometry and polarized neutron scattering measurements can be performed to study short-range ferromagnetic ordering of in-plane spins in 2D systems using a multilayer stack of non-interacting monolayers of gadolinium ions formed by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique. The spontaneous magnetization could not be detected in the heterogeneous magnetic phase observed here and the saturation value of the net magnetization was found to depend on the sample temperature and applied magnetic field. The net magnetization rises exponentially with lowering temperature and then reaches saturation following a T ln(βT) dependence. The T ln (βT) dependence of magnetization has been predicted from spinwave theory of 2D in-plane spin system with ferromagnetic interaction. The experimental findings reported here could be explained by extending this theory to a temperature domain of βT<1.