Research Focus
Mesoscopic Physical systems are systems whose dimensions are neither macroscopic like (everyday objects ) nor microscopic (say on the scale of individual atoms or molecules). I am an experimentalist working on mesoscopic systems like nano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS) and nano-scale electronic devices defined by gating 2-D electron systems. The physical problems of interest are typically studied at ultra-low temperatures. Shown below is a Scanning electron micrograph of a doubly clamped gold beam fabricated and studied during my Post-Doc at Nottingham.
The beam is ~200nm wide 80nm thick and several microns long and is like a nano-scale guitar string. But unlike guitar strings which resonate at audio frequencies these beams have resonant frequency ranging from radio-frequency to microwave frequencies depending on the material and dimensions. At low temperatures the possibility of observing macroscopic quantum phenomena makes NEMS as a very attractive physical system. At IISER I will be setting up a low temperature lab and various fabrication facilities to study NEMS and 2-D electron systems.
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Selected Publications
- S. Anissimova, A. Venkatesan, A. A. Shashkin, M. R. Sakr, S. V. Kravchenko, and T. M. Klapwijk "Magnetization of a Strongly Interacting Two-Dimensional Electron System in Perpendicular Magnetic Fields" Phys. Rev. Lett. 96,046409(2006).
- S. M. Frolov, A. Venkatesan, W. Yu, J. A. Folk, and W. Wegscheider “Electrical Generation of Pure Spin Currents in a Two-Dimensional Electron Gas” Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 116802 (2009).
- A. Venkatesan, K. J. Lulla, M. J. Patton, A. D. Armour, C. J. Mellor, and J. R. Owers-Bradley, “Dissipation in a Gold Nanomechanical Resonator at Low Temperatures” J. Low Temp. Phys. 158, 685 (2010).
- A. Venkatesan, K. J. Lulla, M. J. Patton, A. D. Armour, C. J. Mellor, and J. R. Owers-Bradley,“Dissipation due to tunneling two-level systems in gold nanomechanical resonators” Phys. Rev. B81, 073410 (2010).
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