Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

About the PNAS Member Editor
Name Aspnes, David E.
Location North Carolina State University
Primary Field Applied Physical Sciences
Secondary Field Physics
 Election Citation
Aspnes studies optical effects in thin films and at surfaces and interfaces, being a pioneer in both rigorous theory and accurate experiment. He is also noted for his creative instrumentation, which is widely used in the manufacture of microelectronic devices.
 Research Interests
As a condensed-matter physicist, I have spent most of my career in industrial laboratories. I have specialized in the measurement of the optical properties of materials, surfaces, and interfaces; their interpretation in terms of microscopic processes; and their application to advanced technology. One example is the use of effective medium theories in evaluating microstructural properties of deposited thin films. A current example is the use of reflectance-difference spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry in the elucidation and control of epitaxial growth of semiconductor materials. A second current project is the analysis of silicon-dielectric interfaces, as investigated by the above, and by nonlinear optical techniques. I am also interested in mathematical methods of analysis, for example, virtual-interface theory and extending Fourier methods to the analysis of optical data. Finally, I am also interested in developing approaches to teaching topics such as classical electrodynamics to students who must now be highly flexible in their careers.

 
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