Low-Dimensional Properties of Atomically-Thin Materials and Systems

Atomically-thin materials represent the thinnest possible components of future device applications with extreme reduction in size scales. While tremendous progress has recently been made in understanding the large-scale properties of atomically-thin materials, the low-dimensional aspects, although critical to the smallest device sizes, have received comparatively much less attention. Within this important field of atomically-thin materials, I will discuss our recent experimental investigations of the synthesis, local mechanical and electrical properties determined through various scanning probe microscopies, and transport characteristics of these low-dimensional systems. These experiments on atomically-thin materials focus on their edges, ordered low-dimensional phases contained within them, integration with lower-dimensional materials (such as 1D nanotubes), and the electrical transport behavior at extremely confined scales -- work which probes the ultimate limits of device-size scaling. 

Dr. Doug Strachan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Kentucky (UK).

Dr. Strachan received his Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2002. His Ph.D. focused on the experimental investigation of phase transitions in high-temperature superconductors under the supervision of Dr. Christopher J. Lobb.  After his graduation he was a ChataubriandFellow at the ÉcoleNormaleSupérieurein Paris, where he studied soft-matter colloidal systems.  Prior to moving to UK, Dr. Strachan investigated molecular- and nano-electronic systems as a postdoc jointly with Dr. A. T. Charlie Johnson and Dr. Dawn A. Bonnellat the University of Pennsylvania.      

Some of our related publications: [1] ACS Nano,5, 6403–6409 (2011), [2] Physical Review B,87, 035417 (2013), [3] Applied Physics Letters,105, 243109 (2014), [4] Advanced Materials,DOI: 10.1002/adma.201404060 (2014)