Co-sponsored by The Nanostructures Lab, The Tiny Tech Club and Techlink. 

Structure, Properties and Applications of Carbon Nanotubes

Professor Mildred Dresselhaus

MIT - Institute Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering

Background Papers for Talk:

"Carbon Fibers and Nanotubes"- Morinobu Endo and Mildred Dresselhaus. Science Spectra - Unpublished. 

"Raman Spectroscopy on Isolated Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes"- M.S. Dresselhaus , G. Dresselhaus , A. Jorio , A.G. Souza Filho, R. Saito

The remarkable structure and properties of carbon nanotubes will be briefly reviewed and reference will be made to potential applications. It will then be shown how the vibrational spectra of one tiny tube, only about 1 nm (10Å) in diameter, can be observed experimentally.  Raman spectroscopy normally measures vibrational frequencies.  Under resonant conditions, the Raman spectra, also provide important information about the electronic structure through the strong coupling between electrons and lattice vibrations, and this is also possible for other nanosystems.  What is unique about carbon nanotubes is that for this one-dimensional system, resonance Raman spectroscopy also determines, in addition, the geometrical structure of the resonant nanotube, that is its diameter and chirality.  The implications of these unusual properties are discussed.

Mildred Dresselhaus (Ph.D. 1958, University of Chigago) MIT - Institute Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering

Prof. Mildred Dresselhaus was born and grew up in New York City. She received her undergraduate education at Hunter College in New York City. After a year of study at Cambridge University and another year at Harvard University, she completed her Ph.D. degree at the University of Chicago, with her Ph.D. thesis in 1958 on the subject of microwave properties of supercon- ductors in a magnetic field. Following her doctoral studies, Dr. Dresselhaus spent 2 years at Cornell University as an NSF postdoctoral fellow, and then 7 years as a staff member of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Solid State Physics Division. She joined the MIT faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1967 and the Department of Physics in 1983, and was named an Institute Professor in 1985. She served as the Director of the Office of Science at the US Department of Energy in 2000-2001. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Philosophical Society, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, the IEEE, the Materials Research Society, the Society of Women Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and American Carbon Society. Dr. Dresselhaus has served as President of the American Physical Society, Treasurer of the National Academy of Sciences, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and on numerous advisory committees and councils. Dr. Dresselhaus has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of Science and 17 honorary doctorates. She is the co-author of four books on carbon science. Her research interests are in experimental solid state physics, particularly in carbon related materials, novel forms of carbon, including fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, porous carbons, activated carbons and carbon aerogels, as well as other nanostructures, such as bismuth nanowires and the use of nanostructures in low dimensional thermoelectricity. For relaxation, she is an enthusiastic chamber music player, where she plays either violin or viola, and enjoys spending time with her husband, 4 children and 4 grandchildren.

©2003 Massachusetts Institute of Technology