FY511: Nanostructure characterisation (5 ECTS)

STADS: 07008101

Level
Bachelor course

Teaching period
The course is offered in the spring semester.

Teacher responsible
Email: kloesgen@memphys.sdu.dk

Timetable
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Prerequisites:
None

Academic preconditions:
Nanobioscience students must have passed the first year’s courses in their curriculum.

For students taking the course as an elective course, the contents of FY521 Introductory Quantum Mechanics I and FY503 Electromagnetism are assumed to be known.

Course introduction
In this course the students learn how structures can be formally described and how they can be studied. The investigation of nanoscopic phenomena will be especially addressed. The students get acquainted with some of the currently most important experimental techniques available for (nano)structure characterization. The course is not a hands-on experimental course but the lectures are accompanied by exercises wherein basic mathematical tools and the experimental methods are further explored and elucidated. Selected examples based on original data will be used to train analysis techniques. The course will also include demonstrations of the laboratory equipment available at SDU (Odense) and it will use, as part of the instruction, material available on the Internet.

Expected learning outcome
By the end of the course the students will be able to

• distinguish between ordered and non-ordered structures
• describe order using crystallographic terms and other physical parameters
• explain the physical background that is required to measure and describe structures down to nanometer extension
• describe the experimental principles applied for the characterization of structures
• realize the relation between structure and function
• apply scientific sources to deepen their competences regarding special methods
• write a text in the same format as a scientific article on the application of a method for structure characterization

Subject overview
Structures in physical, chemical and biological systems:

1. Optical techniques resolving down to about 40 nm: microscopy and confocal microscopy, including the use of quantum dot materials as markers
2. Modern methods based on optical microscopy but applied to the study of transport properties: FRAP, SMT and FCS
3. Electron microscopy with resolution capabilities down to 1 nm (TEM, SEM, STEM) and related techniques for composition analysis and contrast
4. Raster-probe methods (AFM, STM, SNOM)
5. Scattering techniques (neutrons, electrons, X-rays and light)

(Abbreviations: TEM: transmission electron microscopy; SEM: scanning electron microscopy; STEM: scanning transmission electron microscopy; SNOM: scanning near-field optical microscopy; FCS: fluorescence correlations spectroscopy; AFM: atomic force microscopy; STM: scanning tunnel microscopy; FRAP: fluorescence recovers after photo-bleaching; SMT: single molecule tracking; FCS: fluorescence correlation spectroscopy).

Literature

• Richard Wolfson: Essential University Physics, 2nd edition.(specialudgave –kan kun købes i boghandlen).
• Walker: Physics, 4th Ed., Pearson International Edition (supplerende læsning / supplementary reading).

Website
This course uses e-learn (blackboard).

Prerequisites for participating in the exam
None

Assessment and marking:

1. A project text written on a structure method. The topic will be chosen by the students as agreed with the supervisor. The text must be handed in two weeks before the examination. Internal evaluation by teacher, pass / fail.
2. Oral examination with internal second examiner and marks according to the Danish 7-point marking scale. The examination will be based on the project text.

Re-examination in the same exam period or immediately thereafter. The mode of exam at the re-examination may differ from the mode of exam at the ordinary exam.

Expected working hours
The teaching method is based on three phase model.
Intro phase: 20 hours
Skills training phase: 30 hours, hereof:
 - Tutorials: 30* hours

Educational activities Study phase: 20 hours

Language
This course is taught in English.

Course enrollment
See deadline of enrolment.

Tuition fees for single courses
See fees for single courses.