School of Physics & Astronomy
 

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Christopher Mellor

Associate Professor & Reader in Physics, Faculty of Science

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Research Summary

There are two themes to my research: using scanning probe techniques to map the microscopic properties of samples and investigating the properties, especially the damping, of nanoelectromechanical… read more

Recent Publications

Current Research

There are two themes to my research: using scanning probe techniques to map the microscopic properties of samples and investigating the properties, especially the damping, of nanoelectromechanical resonators at low temperatures.

We have built a low temperature scanning probe microscope that can measure the forces and capacitance between tip and sample. This instrument is now being used to study phenomena such as the edge states and breakdown of the quantum Hall effect. Currently we can work at temperatures between 300K and 1.5K. By the end of 2007 we shall be able to image samples at temperatures below 100mK. Other scanning probe projects are using dynamic mode AFM to study polymer and bio-molecular systems. More details are available on the nanoscience web pages.

We are investigating nanoelectromechanical mechanical resonators fabricated from a range of materials to try and understand what determines the damping of the resonators at low temperatures. Our processing cleanrooms are equipped with optical and electron beam lithography as well as ICP etching and PECVD equipment. More details of this project can be found on the nanomechanics web pages.

Current Teaching

F34 TOP Top down approaches to nanostructure fabrication

F32 SO1 Optics

Third Year Project Modules

School of Physics and Astronomy

The University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham NG7 2RD

For all enquiries please visit:
www.nottingham.ac.uk/enquiry