March 3, 2015
Huey W. Huang,
Rice University
Host:
Shi-Wei Chu
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
Membrane Biophysics and Soft Matter Physics
Abstract
There are currently two kinds of antibiotics, the conventional antibiotics that target bacterial proteins and the newly discovered antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that act on bacterial cell membranes. The latter hold the promise of alleviating the public health problem of bacterial resistance. However, the mechanism of AMPs has been debated ever since their discoveries in the 80’s. This talk is the story of how we found out the mechanism of AMPs. There are many other diseases-related membrane biophysics problems that require new physical methods to investigate the protein structures within a membrane.
Brief Bio
Prof. Huey W. Huang is Sam and Helen Worden Chair Professor of Physics at Rice University since 2002. He obtained his bachelor's degree from National Taiwan University in 1962, and PhD degree from Cornell University in 1967. He has been interested in the role of lipid physics in the functions of membrane active peptides and in membrane fusion; thus his research target has focused on detecting the structural changes in the membranes during the peptide-membrane interactions. Highlights of his discoveries include the toroidal pores, membrane-thinning effect, concentration-dependent peptide orientation change in membranes, structure of the membrane fusion intermediate state stalk, structure of a pre-stalk intermediate state, crystal structures of barrel-stave pores and toroidal pores. He is an elected Fellow of American Physical Society, and received Distinguished Physics Alumnus Award, National Taiwan University in 2012.
Slides
March 10, 2015
Anders Sandvik,
Boston University
Host:
Ying-Jer Kao
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
Quantum and classical annealing
in spin glasses and quantum computing
Abstract
In simulated annealing, a Monte Carlo simulation with sufficiently slowly decreasing temperature can explore the energy (cost-function) landscape of a complex system (optimization problem) without getting trapped in local minimums. Analogous quantum annealing schemes based on slow reduction of quantum fluctuations have been explored for some time, in theoretically as well as in experiments on frustrated Ising spin systems. Quantum annealing has risen to particular prominence in the context of quantum computing, where there are now serious efforts to implement the method in actual devices, such as the D-wave quantum annealer. It is not yet clear whether true quantum annealing has been realized, however. Beyond this practical issue, a fundamental question is whether quantum annealing really is more efficient than classical simulated annealing for solving important optimization problems. I will discuss recent numerical work on this issue based on non-equilibrium quantum Monte Carlo simulations in imaginary time, in which a quantum Ising spin glass is brought toward a quantum-critical point on its way to reaching the classical optimum ground state energy.
Reference: C.-W. Liu, A. Polkovnikov, A. W. Sandvik, arXiv:1409.7192.
Brief Bio
Anders Sandvik is a Professor of Physics at Boston University. He earned his PhD at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1993 and carried out postdoctoral work at Florida State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was appointed a Senior Research Fellow of the Academy of Finland in 2000 and moved to Boston University as an associate professor in 2004. He was promoted to full professor in 2008. He has held visiting research appointments at The University of Tokyo, National Taiwan University, Sun Yat-Sen University (Guangzhou, China), Institute of Physics, Beijing, and the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Professor Sandvik's research is primarily focused on the quantum many-body problem. He has developed widely used quantum Monte Carlo simulation methods and applied these to challenging problems in quantum magnetism, in particular.
Slides
March 17, 2015
Chen Ning Yang,
Stony Brook University
Host:
Yuan-Huei Chang
Time: 3:20 pm -4:20 pm
Place: Room 204, CCM-New Phys. building
Note: Special Time and Space!!!
Title:
Conceptual Origin of Maxwell Equations
and of Gauge Theory Phenotype
Brief Bio
Prof. Yang was born in Hefei, China. He received his bachelor's degree in 1942, with his thesis on the application of group theory to molecular spectra, under the supervision of Ta-You Wu. He continued to study graduate courses there for two years under the supervision of Wang Zhuxi, working on statistical mechanics. From 1946, Yang studied with Edward Teller at the University of Chicago, where he received his doctorate in 1948. He remained at the University of Chicago for a year as an assistant to Enrico Fermi. In 1949 he was invited to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he began a period of fruitful collaboration with Tsung-Dao Lee. He and Tsung-dao Lee received the 1957 Nobel prize in physics for their work on parity nonconservation of weak interaction. In 1965 he moved to the State University of New York at Stony Brook, as the first director of the newly founded Institute for Theoretical Physics, which is known as the C. N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics now. He has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Academia Sinica, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society. He was awarded honorary doctorate degrees by Princeton University (1958), Moscow State University (1992), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (1997), and National Taiwan University (2014).
Slides
March 24, 2015
Tzihong Chiueh,
National Taiwan University
Host:
Yuan-Huei Chang
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
Extremely Light Dark Matter Particles
Abstract
Cold dark matter (CDM) particles are thermally generated; except for the unknown mass, its dynamical behavior is understood in detail. While CDM predictions have been successfully tested against observations on the scale beyond 10 kpc, it fails to explain observations by a large margin on the scale of 1 kpc. The abrupt change of dynamical behaviors from 10 kpc to 1 kpc calls for either an explanation or an alternative dark matter model. The extremely light dark matter of mass ∼ 10-22 eV can provide a unique mehanism that leads to the abrupt behavior change, with the transition length scale being the particle Compton wavelength at the time when the universe age comparable to the particle mass oscillation. The subsequent linear and nonlinear evolutions transform this particular length scale to few kpc. In this talk, I will present our recent progresses in pinning down the particle mass using Milky Way satellite galaxy observations and in predicting the distinctive sub-kpc features resulting from this particle model. Finally, I will offer a possible explantion as to why Nature favors 10-22 eV.
Brief Bio
Tzihong Chiueh was born in Hsi-Tser (汐止), Taipei County, Nov. 29, 1955. He obtained BS/Physics, MS/Physics and PhD/Physics in 1978, 1980 and 1985 from NTU, UCLA and UT Austin, respectively. During 1985 to 1989, he worked as a postdoc fellow in University of Colorado in Boulder. In 1989, he joined Physics Department, National Central University as a faculty member, and in 1992 he became a faculty member of the then newly formed Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, also serving as the Director. Since 1998, he joined Physics Department NTU as a faculty member. He also holds a joint appointment with Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) ever since 1993. In 1997-1999, he serves in National Science Council as the Co-Chairman of the Physics Research Review Committee.
Tzihong Chiueh’s research interests include Theoretical Astrophysics, Computational Astrophysics and Astrophysics instrumentations. He was awarded with the Outstanding Research Awards of National Science Council in 1991, 1994 and 2003, and was appointed as the NTU Distinguished Professor since 2007.
Slides
March 31, 2015
Chao-Lin Kuo,
Stanford University
Host:
Jiun-Huei Proty Wu
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
The search for gravitational waves in cosmic
microwave background polarization:
The recent BICEP2/Planck results
and where do we go from here
Abstract
Polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation is a powerful probe of the early universe. In particular, the so called B-mode polarization, a swirly spatial pattern in linear polarization, is a unique probe of primordial gravitational waves generated during inflation. After an overview of these concepts, I will give an update on the recent results from the BICEP/Keck experiments. These measurements made at the South Pole clearly detect a very significant B-mode signal at the relevant angular scales. Subsequent Planck high-frequency data, however, suggest that astronomical dust foregrounds could also produce a signal at this level. Regardless of existing uncertainties, I will argue that we are right at an important threshold of this exciting field. The recently deployed BICEP3 experiment will provide ground breaking sensitivity at a frequency that is much less affected by dust emission, using technologies and methodologies already vindicated by BICEP2 and Keck.
Brief Bio
Dr. Chao-Lin Kuo is a cosmologist. He studies the origin of the universe by developing novel instruments and taking measurements of Big Bang’s afterglow at the most remote locations on Earth.
Dr. Kuo received his bachelor’s degree in physics from National Taiwan University and Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley. After postdoctoral research at Caltech and Jet Propulsion Lab, he joined the faculty of Stanford Physics Department in 2008. He was promoted to associated professor with tenure in 2015.
Dr. Kuo is one of the co-leaders of the BICEP/Keck program, and also the originator and leader of the series’ latest upgrade, BICEP3, which was successfully deployed in early 2015. Dr. Kuo is a recipient of Alfred Sloan Research Fellowship and NSF CAREER Award.
April 7, 2015
Karl-Heinz Kampert,
University of Wuppertal
Host:
Wei-Shu Hou
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
The Most Energetic Particles in Nature
Abstract
Enormous progress has been made in observing cosmic rays with energies to 1020 eV and beyond. However, major puzzles remain to be solved. In particular, a flux suppression of cosmic rays has been observed above an energy of 5x1019 eV, such as is expected from photo-pion production by protons propagating through the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (GZK-effect). However, data from the Pierre Auger Observatory, the worlds largest cosmic ray observatory located in Argentina, show a shift towards heavier primary particles above 5x1018 eV, thereby suggesting seeing the maximum energy of cosmic particle accelerators rather than energy losses by propagation effects. We shall review the experimental data and discuss its consequences. Observing particles up to 1020 eV enables also tests of fundamental physics, such as features of hadronic interaction at energies up to sqrt(s)=100 TeV, tests of Lorentz invariance violation or on smoothness of space-time structure. We shall end the presentation by outlining plans for the near-term future and discussing the prospects and future challenges of UHECR physics.
Brief Bio
Karl-Heinz Kampert is Professor of Physics at the Wuppertal University (Germany). He earned his PhD at University of Muenster in high-energy nuclear physics in 1986 with research done at Berkeley. Right after his PhD, he took a scholarship at CERN to search for a new state of hadronic matter (Quark-Gluon Plasma). He received his habilitation at Muenster and became Professor of Physics at Karlsruhe University and its co-located Research Centre (now KIT) in 1995. Since then, his research is focussed to studying high energy cosmic rays and neutrinos. He contributed to the construction of the KASCADE air shower experiment, initiated the KASCADE-Grande experiment, and served as its spokesperson from 1999 to 2003 when he took a Professorship at Wuppertal. Kampert is a founding member of the worlds largest cosmic ray observatory (Pierre Auger Observatory) located in Argentina and serves as Spokesperson of the Collaboration, comprising about 500 members from 17 countries, since 2011.
Professor Kampert has authored and co-authored more than 600 publications and serves on many service and advisory committees, often as chair, such as on the IUPAP C4 commission on Astroparticle Physics. He received several distinctions and is a member of the Academia Europea.
Slides
April 14, 2015
Shude Mao,
NAOC
Host:
Yen-Ting Lin
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
Photometric and dynamical modelling
of the Milky Way bar
Abstract
Milky Way is a typical barred spiral galaxy and is one of few galaxies where we can resolve the stellar populations. A thorough understanding of the Galaxy provides strong clues how other spiral galaxies form and evolve. However, our picture of the Milky Way is far from complete with many of its basic parameters remain ill determined. I will review some recent progress on the photometric and dynamical modelling of the Milky Way bar, and discuss future prospects in the field.
Brief Bio
Shude Mao is a professor of astrophysics at Tsinghua University, National Astronomical Observatories of China and the University of Manchester (UK). He obtained his PhD at Princeton in 1992, and were postdoctoral fellows at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Max-Planck Institute for astrophysics. He joined the faculty of the University of Manchester in 2000. After spending 22 years in the west, he returned to China in 2010. His current research focuses on study of the Milky Way, gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics.
Slides
April 28, 2015
Michio Murata,
Osaka University
Host:
Tsyr-Yan Yu
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
Probing membrane lipids:
a perspective from solid-state NMR study
Abstract
For elucidating intermolecular interactions governing co-existing lipid-ordered (Lo) and lipid-disordered (Ld) phases in a model membrane of sphingomyelin (SM), cholesterol and unsaturated phosphatidylcholine, we utilized the solid-state NMR of site-specifically deuterated lipids. The 2H-quadrupole profile of lipids in the Lo phase was almost identical to that in an SM-containing simpler system, suggesting that molecular interaction between SMs is mainly responsible for Lo formation. We further demonstrated that solid state NMR spectroscopy, in combination with organic synthesis of carefully designed deuterated compounds, could reveal the molar fractions of each component occurring in the Lo and Ld domains.
Brief Bio
Prof. Michio Murata is a professor of chemistry department at Osaka university and he is currently directing a JST ERATO project “Lipid Active Struture”. He obtained his bachelor's degree from Tohoku University in 1981, and PhD degree from Graduate School of Agriculture, Tohoku University in 1986. He has been interested in structure of molecular assembles formed by antibiotics in biomembrane and structural elucidation of natural products including NMR-based configuration analysis. In addition, he is actively working on mode of action studies of marine toxins including dinoflagellate polyether toxins. He received the CSJ Award for creative work from the chemical society of Japan in March 2007 and is an elected fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry since 2014.
Slides
May 5, 2015
Tim de Zeeuw,
European Southern Observatory
Host:
Yen-Ting Lin
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
Building the world's largest optical telescope
at ESO
Abstract
ESO is an intergovernmental organisation for astronomy founded in 1962 by five countries. It currently has 14 Member States in Europe with Brazil and Poland poised to join as soon as the respective Accession Agreements have been ratified. Together these countries represent approximately 30 percent of the world’s astronomers. ESO operates optical/infrared observatories on La Silla and Paranal in Chile, partners in the sub-millimetre radio observatories APEX and ALMA on Chajnantor and has started construction of the Extremely Large Telescope on Armazones near Paranal.
La Silla hosts robotic and national telescopes as well as the NTT and the venerable 3.6m telescope. The former had a key role in the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe and the latter hosts the ultra-stable spectrograph HARPS which is responsible for the discovery of many of the confirmed exoplanets with masses below that of Neptune. On Paranal the four 8.2m units of the Very Large Telescope, the Interferometer and the survey telescopes VISTA and VST together constitute a unique integrated system which supports 16 powerful facility instruments, including adaptive-optics-assisted imagers and integral-field spectrographs, with half a dozen more on the way and the 39m Extremely Large Telescope with its suite of instruments to be added in less than ten years. Scientific highlights include the characterisation of the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Centre, the first image of an exoplanet, studies of gamma-ray bursts enabled by the Rapid Response Mode and milliarcsec imaging of evolved stars and active galactic nuclei. The single dish APEX antenna, equipped with spectrometers and wide-field cameras, contributes strongly to the study of high-redshift galaxies and of star- and planet-formation. Early results obtained with ALMA demonstrate its transformational potential for high-resolution, high-sensitivity observations of the cold Universe, near and far.
The colloquium will provide an overview of ESO’s current programme, with emphasis on recent increases in observing capabilities, consider ESO’s role in the broader context of astrophysics, and will briefly touch on opportunities for the future.
Brief Bio
Prof. Tim de Zeeuw is a world renowned astronomer specializing in the formation, structure and dynamics of galaxies. After receiving his PhD degree from Leiden University in 1984, he was a long-term member at the Institute for Advanced Study and a senior research fellow at Caltech. In 1990 he became professor of theoretical astronomy back at Leiden University, and in 2003, he was appointed Scientific Director of Leiden Observatory. Since 2007, he has been the Director General of European Southern Observatory (ESO), the main astronomical research organization of Europe. Among his achievements, "SAURON", an integral field spectroscopic study of nearby galaxies that he co-initiated, has revolutionized our view of the nature and formation of early-type galaxies. He received the Prix Descartes-Huygens in 2001, received the 2010 Brouwer Award of the American Astronomical Society, and holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Lyon, Chicago and Padova.
Slides
May 12, 2015
Ronald Taam,
ASIAA
Host:
Yen-Ting Lin
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
The Astrophysics of Stellar Mass
Compact Objects
Abstract
Current developments in the astrophysics of stellar mass compact objects will be highlighted. Recent space based and ground based observations of X-ray point sources in our Galaxy and in external galaxies have led to a resurgence of interest in these objects. A brief overview of their observational properties will be introduced and our current physical understanding described. Many of these objects are transient, exhibiting time variations in both flux and spectra. By studying their behavior in both quiescence and in outburst, they can be used as cosmic laboratories to reveal the physics underlying their nature and state of evolution.
Brief Bio
Dr. Ronald Taam is a distinguished research fellow at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) in Taipei, Taiwan and emeritus professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA. He holds a PhD in Astronomy from Columbia University and has held positions at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of California at Berkeley before joining Northwestern University in 1978. He has served as Chairman of the department and currently serves as the managing deputy director of ASIAA and the director of the Theoretical Institute for Advanced Research in Astrophysics (TIARA) within ASIAA. He is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Dr. Taam is a theoretical astrophysicist with interests in the formation and evolution of stars in isolation and in binaries, the nature of accretion onto stellar mass black holes in black hole X-ray binary systems and onto supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei, and the high energy astrophysics of compact objects. The thrust of his research has been broadly directed to fundamental investigations of the evolutionary processes for compact star formation and evolution, and investigations of the variability of transient sources resulting from processes taking place either within an accretion flow or within the compact object itself.
Slides
May 19, 2015
Frans Spaepen,
Harvard University
Host:
Lychong Lin
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
Live 3D Modeling with Colloids
Abstract
Colloidal particles in suspension form liquid, crystalline and glassy phases similar to those formed by atoms. Since the particles are “fat” (~1µm) and “slow” (~0.1s), they can be individually tracked in space and time by confocal microscopy. Dense colloidal systems therefore serve as "analog computers" to study the dynamics of defects in crystals (vacancies, stacking faults, dislocations, grain boundaries), crystal nucleation, crystal-liquid interfaces, and the fundamental mechanisms of the deformation of glasses.
Brief Bio
Prof. Frans A. Spaepen is John C. and Helen F. Franklin Professor of Applied Physics at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He obtained his Ph.D. in Applied Physics, Division of Engineering & Applied Physics, Harvard University. After three years of postdoctoral research, he became professor in Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University. His research interests include the properties and the structure of many materials such as amorphous materials, quasicrystals, thin films and multilayers, and the effects of surface and interface. He is also a member of National Academy of Engineering, and an elected Fellow of American Physical Society, Materials Research Society, and Metallurgical Society of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers.
June 2, 2015
Tse-Ming Chen,
National Cheng Kung University
Host:
Yuan-Huei Chang
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
All-electric spin transistors
Abstract
Spintronics has long been identified as a very promising and viable route for post-CMOS devices. The spin field effect transistor (FET), the building blocks of such architecture, has been its driving force since theoretically proposed in 1990 by Datta and Das. After 25 years, the realization of a functional spin FET has yet to be achieved, owing to several fundamental challenges such as the low spin-injection efficiency, the spin relaxation, and the spread of spin precession angles. In this talk I will give an overview of spin FET and present our new design to overcome all the above obstacles and to realize a spin FET for the first time.
Brief Bio
Dr. Tse-Ming Chen is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and also a distinguished research fellow in the Center for Micro/Nano Science and Technology at National Cheng Kung University, where he has been a faculty member since 2010. Tse-Ming received his BS and MS degree from National Taiwan University, and his PhD degree from Cambridge University, all in physics. His research interests lies in the area of nanoelectronics with a focus on developing post-CMOS devices and architectures, ranging from spintronics to quantum computation, and many beautiful and intricate quantum mechanical behaviours in such systems.
Slides
June 9, 2015
Minn-Tsong Lin,
National Taiwan University
Host:
Yuan-Huei Chang
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
Dancing with Spin in Nanomagnetism
and Spintronics
Abstract
Spin is one of the most wonderful and exotic properties of the elementary particle in physics. In the worlds of condensed matter physics and materials physics, spin plays a crucial role in both aspects of fundamental research and application. In this colloquium talk, I will introduce several examples in the fields of nanomagnetism and spintronics, by demonstrating the novel effect of an antiferromagnetic layer on the perpendicular magnetization [1,2] and the transport mechanism of spin-polarized electrons through organic materials [3,4]. A very recent interest on the spin-momentum locked system, such as topological insulator and Rashba-semiconductor will be also addressed, for example, the discovery of a spontaneously formed “Rashba p-n junction” of strongly Rashba-split electrons and holes [5].
[1] B. Y. Wang, N. Y. Jih, W. C. Lin, C. H. Chuang, P. J. Hsu, C. W. Peng, Y. C. Yeh, Y. L. Chan, D. H. Wei, W. C. Chiang, and Minn-Tsong Lin, Phys. Rev. B 83, 104417 (2011).
[2] B. Y. Wang, J. Y. Hong, K. H. Ou Yang, Y. L. Chan, D. H. Wei, H. J. Lin, and Minn-Tsong Lin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 117203 (2013).
[3] K. S. Li, Y. M. Chang, S. Agilan, J. Y. Hong, J. C. Tai, W. C. Chiang, K. Fukutani, P. A. Dowben, and Minn-Tsong Lin, Phys. Rev. B 83, 172404 (2011).
[4] J. Y. Hong, K. H. Ou Yang, B. Y. Wang, K. S. Li, H. W. Shiu, C. H. Chen, Y. L. Chan, D. H. Wei, F. H. Chang, H. J. Lin, W. C. Chiang* and Minn-Tsong Lin, Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 083301 (2014).
[5] C. Butler, H. H. Yang, J. Y. Hong, S. H. Hsu, Raman Sankar, C. I. Lu, H. Y. Lu, K. H. Ou Yang, H. W. Shiu, C. H. Chen, C. C. Kaun, G. J. Shu, F. C. Chou and Minn-Tsong Lin, Nat. Commun. 5:4066 doi: 10.1038/ncomms5066 (2014).
Brief Bio
Prof. Minn-Tsong Lin is Professor at Department of Physics, National Taiwan University. He obtained his bachelors degree from National Taiwan University, Diplom-Phyisker (master degree) from University of Heidelberg, Germany, and his Ph.D. from Department of Physics, University of Halle, with the thesis supervised at Max-Planck-Institute of Microstructure Physics, Germany. He is also serving now as Associate Editor of Applied Physics Letters.
Prof. Lin was studying the complex interplay among the electronic and structural factors governing the nanomagnetism and spin-dependent transport in ultrathin magnetic films and (organic) spintronic and nanomagnetic systems. Recently, he focuses his research work on spintronics with emergent materials, such as topological insulator and Rashba-semiconductor.
June 16, 2015
Yuh-Lin Wang,
Academia Sinica
Host:
Yuan-Huei Chang
Time: 2:20 pm -3:20 pm
Place: Room 104, CCM-New
Phys. building
Title:
A Voyage from Atoms/Molecules
and Clusters/Nanostructures
to Bacteria and Planet-Human
Abstract
This is an account of a physicist embarking on a voyage across different length scales, from that of atoms/molecules to bacteria and human beings. The voyage started out from a curiosity to facilitate the self-assembly of atoms/molecules into an array of clusters/nanostructures with specific size, shape, and geometric arrangement on a surface. This ability to manipulate materials on the nanometer scale is one the most important fundamental issues in the exploration of nanoscience and the exploitation of nanotechnology. Recently, the voyage turned into exploiting such nanostructure-arrays to study bacteria, the most abundant inhabitants on a planet-human, via surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). When the symbiosis of a bacteria/human system is broken down, a healthy human can turn into a sepsis patient with bacteria in the blood. SERS is used to test the resistance of the bacteria to various antibiotics and help doctors make faster and better judgments.
Brief Bio
Yuh-Lin Wang is a distinguished research fellow of the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences (IAMS), Academia Sinica, and an adjunct professor of the Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, where he received his BS in 1979. He graduated from the University of Chicago with a PhD in physics, worked at Bell Labs before joining IAMS in 1991 as an associate research fellow. Between 2004 and 2010, he served as the director of IAMS. He received the Prime Minister Award for Outstanding Contribution to Sci&Tech, Nanotechnology Elite Award from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Outstanding Research Award from the Ministry of Sci&Tech, Outstanding Scholar Award from the Foundation for the Advancement of Outstanding Scholarship, and Y. Z. Hsu Chair Professorship from the Far Eastern Group. He is a fellow of American Physical Society and Chinese Physical Society in Taipei.
Slides