Research and production of innovative materials was recognized, in the early 1980s, as important to economic development by the State of Florida.  During that time, the utility of materials science as versatile platform for interdisciplinary education was also acknowledged throughout the country. A group of physicists at the Florida State University and the University of Florida seized the opportunity to initiate a program in materials science. Our Center, a comprehensive representation of key materials areas such as nanotechnology, thin films, magnets, superconductors, semiconductors and polymers, is distributed throughout Physics, Chemistry, Engineering and, more recently, Biology.

The Center's core mission is to combine education and research economically and effectively. Our role remains to aggressively develop emerging interdisciplinary initiatives and to focus the attention of existing and new faculty, students and staff on new areas in order to define or take advantage of new paradigms in basic materials research. The diverse talents of our faculty are brought to bear on research activities which complement this mission.

Theory: Themes include novel behavior due to strong correlations in superconductors, superfluids, and complex solids. Predictions of physical properties utilizing computational and analytical methods as dimensions decrease, for example, in thin films and restricted geometries, as well as in nanoparticles, are often closely related to the experimental research activities at MARTECH. In particular, experimental work in transport and magneto-transport of the mixed valence lanthanide perovskites, the magnetic switching of iron nanoparticles, and the spin polarization measurements of thin film heterostructures have often been guided and continue to benefit from close interactions with the theoretical activities at MARTECH.

Semiconducting and metallic nanoparticles: The synthesis and characterization of semiconducting and metallic nanoparticles play

an important role in a number of research initiatives. One of these is an effort to utilize magnetic particles with specific transition temperatures as a method for efficient drug delivery at specific biological locations. Nanoparticles also play an important role as ingredients in multiphase materials with new functionality. Thus, the inclusion of superparamagnetic nanoparticles in porous transparent glasses which can be cast into complex structures has potential applications.  Furthermore, the development of photoluminescent beads with designed emission spectra for possible biological tagging play an important role in the overriding focus on complex integration of hard and soft condensed matter materials which represents a major thrust of the experimental work at the Center.

Integration of hard and soft materials
a) Sensors:The integration of hard and soft materials is an intellectual frontier that is likely to provide entirely new device functionality for future spintronic and biological applications. MARTECH has addressed this vision at the interface of condensed matter physics, synthetic chemistry, molecular biology, and device engineering. The overarching scientific program is to develop hybrid nanosystems with novel and/or enhanced functionalities. Two technically demanding device classes -- molecularly linked nano FETs and Hall magnetometer-based sensors -- are presently being developed to drive scientific focus.

b) Bionano systems:The work builds upon several recent but highly productive collaborative projects funded by the NSF and DARPA. Much of the past research within these programs owes its success to a number of interdisciplinary group activities. One example is the development of analytical techniques to demonstrate the control of the mobility of actin/myosin complex by studying the motion of actin filaments optically labeled and controlled with a temperature regulated flow cell

designed in-house. The recent results of this study demonstrate our ability to control and even switch in an on/off fashion the motion of such actin filaments. The picture and graph show the design of the device for control as well as the capabilities and resulting motion of the biological molecules. Another device which will be utilized for single molecule detection employs nano FETs. One example of such a device utilizing nanobelts produced from various oxides, including Zn and Sn oxide, is shown in the figure below.

These two examples will give the reader some sense of our efforts in integrating hard and soft materials and devices for the study of new science involving a number of classical disciplines.

Control of the Solid/Liquid Interface: The composition of the solid/liquid interface is being modified by ultrathin films. These films control properties such as wetting and bioadhesion. In the Example below, smooth muscle cells have been grown on the surface of hydrophobic fluorinated polymer, stamped on a surface using a rubber stamp. The green stain shows the arrangement of actin and the blue stain reveals the nuclei.

Accomplishing all of these tasks here at MARTECH requires a sophisticated infrastructure and characterization tools which can be applied to science at small scales. These are described in the facilities section which can be accessed by going to the home page and clicking on the facilities button.