Elton Graugnard
Welcome to my corner of the Rollins College Department of Physics website!
I started as an assistant professor here in August 2007. Currently (Spring 2009), I am teaching the algebra-based General Physics sequence and the advanced sequence in Electromagnetic Theory. I have also co-taught a combined astronomy/philosophy ("philastrosophy") course as part of the Rollins College Conference.
My full curriculum vitae can be found in the links at left, but briefly I am currently involved in photonic crystals and thin film research. In collaboration with Chris Summer's Nanophotonics research group in the School of Materials Science & Engineering at Georgia Tech, I have developed techniques to fabricate and manipulate the optical properties of 2D and 3D photonic crystals using atomic layer deposition (ALD). Using ALD systems I designed and built, we have developed several successful ALD protocols to grow thin films and multi-layers of titanium dioxide (TiO2), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), zinc oxide (ZnO) and gallium phosphide (GaP) within synthetic opals and 2D slab waveguides. This allowed us to tune and enhance the optical properties of these structures for specific applications.
I also really like scanning probe microscopy. I've worked on ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) of semiconductor surfaces (Si and GaAs) and studyied the etching of semiconductors with halogens, atom-by-atom. Some STM images of clean and etched surfaces can be found under the STM link. I also used a variable-temperature STM to study the surface dynamics and evolution in 'real time'.
In graduate school, I worked in Ron Reifenberger's group on the field emission and electronic conductance of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs).