Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2011
Volume 56, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 21–25, 2011; Dallas, Texas
Session J5: Hildred Blewett Scholars and their Research followed by Panel Discussion |
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Sponsoring Units: CSWP Chair: Sherry Yennello, Texas A&M University Room: Ballroom C1 |
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 11:15AM - 11:27AM |
J5.00001: M. Hildred Blewett and the Blewett Scholarship Invited Speaker: M. Hildred Blewett became a physicist at a time when few women were physicists. After beginning her career at General Electric, she became a respected accelerator physicist, working at Brookhaven, Argonne, and eventually CERN. Blewett was married for a time to John Blewett, another accelerator physicist, but the couple divorced without children and she never remarried. She felt that her career in physics was hampered by her gender, and when she died in 2004 at the age of 93, she left the bulk of her estate to the American Physical Society, to found a Scholarship for women in physics. Since 2005 the Blewett Scholarship has been awarded to women in physics who are returning to physics after a career break, usually for family reasons. Family/career conflicts are one of the most important reasons why young women in early careers leave physics---a loss for them as well as the physics community, which has invested time and money in their training. The Blewett Scholarship is one way for the physics community, under the leadership of CSWP, to help these young women resume their careers. I will discuss the life and work of Hildred Blewett, the Blewett Scholarship, and its benefits to the physics community. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 11:27AM - 12:03PM |
J5.00002: Atomically Thin Graphene Hall Cross Devices as Sensitive Magnetic Field Probes Invited Speaker: Experimentally realized in 2004, graphene has ignited great interest in physics, material science, chemistry and engineering. Graphene is a one-atom thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. This elegantly simple material has excellent electronic and mechanical properties, as well as remarkable physics resulting from its relativistic Dirac electrons. Graphene is a highly promising material for many applications, including sensors. One of my research projects has been investigating graphene for use as a nanoscale magnetic sensor. Such sensors could be used to measure small magnetic particles or as a scanning probe to map out magnetic fields. The Hall cross geometry of the devices gives a noninvasive and straightforward magnetic field probe. I fabricated Hall crosses from mechanically exfoliated single-, bi-, and multi-layer graphene with cross junction widths down to a few hundred nanometers. The devices were tested in a small applied field and the noise spectra of the Hall signal as a function of bias current and back gate voltage was measured at room and cryogenic temperatures. The best field sensitivity at room temperature obtained for a 400 nm graphene Hall cross was 15 G/Hz$^{1/2}$ at 1 Hz and 1 G/Hz$^{1/2}$ at 4 kHz, which is on par with similar crosses made from other materials in the literature. In addition, because they are made from graphene, graphene Hall probes have further advantages such as tunability with a gate, being extremely thin and at the surface, and having mechanical stability for ultra-small device fabrication. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 12:03PM - 12:39PM |
J5.00003: When Nano Isn't Small Enough: Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics and My Quest to Understand Particle Physics Invited Speaker: Although I started my research life as a condensed matter theorist (nanotribology), I now work in the field of high-energy physics. I use effective field theories and Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (Lattice QCD) to calculate strong-interaction effects in Standard Model processes. I have worked on quark and meson mass calculations, and contributed to decay-process calculations used to probe the weak-interation. After setting the stage for this research, I will briefly describe calculations I have worked on over the past few years and give an introduction to my current research project(s). [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 12:39PM - 1:15PM |
J5.00004: Lateral Modulation in Antimonide Superlattices Invited Speaker: Lateral modulation is the spontaneous formation of a periodic modulation in structure or alloy composition perpendicular to the growth direction in an epitaxial structure. It has been observed in many epitaxially grown III-V semiconductor alloys, occurring during both the homogenous growth of III-V alloys and in III-V superlattices. In [001] oriented zinc blende structures, lateral modulation typically occurs along one of the [110] directions and is associated with strain and growth kinetics. It begins when strain is relieved through elastic surface undulations, typically in layers much thinner than the critical thickness for dislocation formation. In a superlattice, these undulations can lead to either compositional or purely structural modulation, depending on the relative phase and amplitude of the undulations in the constituent layers. Compositional modulation is by far the most commonly observed form in superlattice structures. We report on the analysis of purely structural lateral modulation in AlSb/AlAs digital superlattices, using x-ray diffraction. This is the first report of lateral modulation in an antimonide superlattice, and a rare observation of purely structural modulation in a superlattice. InAs/Al(In)Sb digital superlattices were also studied, and exhibited no lateral modulation. The composition and strain of the structures and critical thickness for lateral modulation will be discussed. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 1:15PM - 2:15PM |
J5.00005: Panel discussion on the Blewett Scholarship, and how it helps young women achieve career/family balance. Invited Speaker: This panel discussion will be preceded by talks by three women who have had career interruptions due to family reasons and have restarted their research careers with some assistance from a Blewett Scholarship. They will discuss their experience balancing career and family. Questions from the audience will be encouraged. This session should provide inspiration for young women to pursue their passions and motivation for department chairs to be flexible and accommodating of career/family balance. [Preview Abstract] |
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