Atom and molecule mechanics 

Speaker: Professor John Pethica, Chief Scientific Adviser, National Physical Laboratory

Nanotechnology has become an intensive area of research and product development. This is partly due to the continuous scaling down of devices implied by Moore’s Law, but also partly because new measurement tools, especially microscopes, have expanded our perspectives in biology and wider materials chemistry. In particular atomic force microscopy provides imaging and ‘spectroscopy’ from single atoms upwards in size, and in a remarkably wide variety of environments.

In this talk Professor Pethica will describe the latest in atom imaging and the testing of individual bonds by direct mechanical means – chemistry via mechanics. Seeing is not always believing, as some examples will show, but AFM techniques are advancing rapidly and simultaneous measurements of forces, tunnel currents, and energy dissipation are providing powerful new characterisation tools. A significant challenge remains in bridging the gap between atomic and larger scale material mechanics.

There is an interesting parallel in the challenges faced by computational modelling in bridging length and time scales. John will describe hybrid experimental techniques for mechanical measurement at the ~10nm scale, and the prospects for fully covering the gap between molecules and continuum materials.

About the speaker

Professor Pethica is a Principal Investigator in the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices at The University of Dublin and is also a visiting Professor in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford.

Biography

• Ph.D. (1978) and Research Fellowships (1983-87) at Cambridge, UK.
• Staff scientist at Brown Boveri Co., Switzerland (1980-82).
• Lecturer, then Professor (1996) of Materials Science, at Oxford University.
• Founding director (2002-05) of CRANN, Ireland’s nanotechnology research centre.
• Currently Chief Scientific Adviser at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, and SFI.
• Professor at Trinity College, Dublin.
• Founder & Director (1985-1998) of Nano Instruments Inc., TN, USA.
• FRS 1999, Rosenhain Medal, IoM (1997). Hughes Medal, RS (2001), Holweck Medal,
• French Phys. Soc. (2002).

As Chief Scientific Adviser at the National Physical Laboratory, Professor Pethica is ideally placed to give his views on measurement science and technology.