London Nanotech Center Appoints Co-Director

The London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) announced it has appointed David McComb, PhD, reader in materials characterization at Imperial College London, as its co-director. McComb will lead LCN, a nanotech joint venture between Imperial and University College London (UCL) based in Bloomsbury and South Kensington, with UCL professor Gabriel Aeppli. McComb joined the Department of Materials at Imperial as a senior lecturer in 2003. His current research concentrates on the development and application of nanoanalytical electron microscopy techniques for the study of chemistry, structure and bonding at the interfaces of atoms. He leads a research group of 17 and has published 90 papers and patents. Established in 2002, the LCN brings together Imperial and UCL researchers across a range of disciplines including medicine, chemistry, physics, electrical and electronic engineering, materials and earth science. Its main research areas are health care, information technology and the environment. The LCN was recently awarded a £5.5 million ($11 million) government grant to develop new nanoscale measurement tools and installed a Titan transmission electron microscope.

Published: May 2007

Glossary

nano: An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as nanophotonics), for example, is the study of how light and light-matter interactions behave on the nanometer scale. See nanophotonics.
nanotechnology: The use of atoms, molecules and molecular-scale structures to enhance existing technology and develop new materials and devices. The goal of this technology is to manipulate atomic and molecular particles to create devices that are thousands of times smaller and faster than those of the current microtechnologies.
photonics: The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments, lasers and other light sources, fiber optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics, and sophisticated systems. The range of applications of photonics extends from energy generation to detection to communications and...
transmission electron microscope: A type of microscope that uses magnetic lenses to transmit a beam of electrons through an object; the electrons are then focused on a fluorescent screen to form an enlarged image.

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