Condensed Matter & Materials

The Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute is a collaborative center where much of the applied research in condensed matter and materials is concentrated at UT Dallas. Research activities focus on single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes for applications ranging from military camouflage and armor to medical diagnostics.

The Nanotech Institute provides a research home to faculty from multiple academic programs, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration among students and faculty in physics, chemistry and engineering.

UT Dallas has a state-of-the-art optical spectroscopy laboratory to provide insight into nanoscale electronic and photonic processes on timescales ranging from femtoseconds to steady-state.

Areas of particular interest include time-resolved photoluminescence and transient absorption spectroscopy, quantum optics with single nano-objects, optical properties of quantum dots, photovoltaic optoelectronics, energy transfer in hybrid organic-inorganic nanomaterials, and optical probing of biomolecules at the single molecule level.

Major research equipment for these studies includes a suite of high power tunable Ti:sapphire femtosecond lasers, high-resolution imaging spectrometers with high-sensitivity CCD cameras for single photon detection and nanoparticle imaging, an array of fast detectors for visible and near-infrared spectroscopy, a low temperature He-flow cryostat, confocal optical microscopes, and various supporting equipment.