IOP Groups
Dielectrics at Meso and Nano Scales
Canterbury 2004
Understanding dielectric media and dielectric phenomena at meso and nano scales is at the heart of both traditional and new issues in dielectrics, from understanding the nature of dielectric interfaces to investigating nano-phase systems, molecular confinement and novel nanocomposite properties. With so much new activity developing internationally in nanotechnology and nanoscience, it was timely that the Dielectric Group of the Institute of Physics should hold a conference on this topic at the University of Kent at Canterbury from the 19 to the 21 April 2004.
The conference benefited from a wide ranging international audience and group of invited speakers who acted to promote the principal themes of the conference. The opening talk of the conference was given by Professor Bob Denning from Oxford on optical methods for fabricating 3-D photonic crystals and he ably demonstrated the merging of physics and chemistry to provide the complex structures required to support photon manipulation - a good basis for the session that followed on Photonic Crystals. This was followed by the session on Structured Surfaces and Materials which was opened with a fascinating talk by Dr Peter Vukusic from Exeter on light and colour arising from nanostructure in natural systems. Peter showed the great variety of structural form and physics that leads to vast colour production in insect wings illustrating how much there is to learn from natural structures and the potential for biomimicry.
Dielectric Relaxation and Confinement was opened by Professor Freiderick Kremer from Leipzig who discussed a wide range of studies on molecular confinement effects through the use of single molecule isolation and the study of thin films. This was followed by an invited talk from Professor Yuri Feldman from The Hebrew University who spoke on Non-monotonous relaxation kinetics in a variety of confined systems. The session papers that followed these talks illustrated the rich variety of dielectric response that can be observed from nanostructured dielectrics and the need to devise theoretical approaches to account for the behaviour observed.
Our ability to understand structure and dielectric properties at meso and nanoscales was reviewed by Professor Gary Stevens from Surrey who drew upon recent developments in scanning probe and electron microscopy and spectroscopy methods to show how both chemical and physical information can be measured in nanostructured materials. This session on Nano Measurements and Construction was followed by one on nano Structured Materials which was opened by Professor Keith Nelson from Rennsselaer Polytechnic Institute who examined nanocomposite dielectrics with regard to their dielectric, space charge and dielectric breakdown behaviour illustrating the differences that exist between micro and nano inorganic filled epoxy resins.
It was a pleasure for the conference to be closed by a final invited talk by Professor John Lewis from Bangor on interfaces as nanodielectric elements. John brought together our current understanding of the physics and chemistry of dielectric interfaces and set this in the context of nanodielectrics and how the bulk properties of such systems will be controlled by the internal surface and interface characteristics of the system.
Throughout, the conference benefited from an excellent group of contributed papers and strong discussion including sessions set aside for this purpose. It also benefited from a small but very interesting poster session covering a wide range of nanomaterials, dielectrics systems and measurements. The poster session also produced the winner of the 2004 Mansell Davies Award for the best paper by a young researcher - this was Dr Ralf Mason from Surrey for his paper on novel polyethylene-layered silicate nanocomposites formed by supercritical fluid assisted melt blending.
A selection of papers from the conference will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics and the Organising Committee wish to thank all speakers and delegates for making this a very interesting and memorable conference.
Gary Stevens (May 2004)
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