Bethe lectures feature talks on electron tunneling

Bertrand I. Halperin, the Hollis Professor of Mathematicks and Natural Philosophy at Harvard University, will discuss electron tunneling experiments when he delivers three Hans A. Bethe lectures on the Cornell campus March 24, 25 and 27.

Halperin, whose research embraces many aspects of the theory of condensed matter systems and statistical physics, will present his first lecture on "One-Dimensional Metals in Theory and Experiment," Monday, March 24, in Schwartz Auditorium of Rockefeller Hall at 4:30 p.m. It is free and open to the Cornell community.

In his talk Halperin will build on work done by Hans A. Bethe, Cornell professor emeritus of physics, in 1931 and discuss one-dimensional metals, often called "Luttinger liquids," which include single-walled carbon nanotubes. He will discuss the results of research into one-dimensional metals with emphasis on electron-tunneling experiments, including recent work on tunneling between two parallel quantum wires.

Electron tunneling, or transport, through molecular structures is central to a wide range of chemical, physical and biological processes, and current research seeks to control the movement and position of a single or small number of electrons.

On Tuesday, March 25, at 4:30 p.m. in 700 Clark Hall, Halperin will give a Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics (LASSP) seminar on "Quantum Hall Bilayers." And on Thursday, March 27, in 701 Clark Hall, also at 4:30 p.m., he will offer a LASSP theory seminar on "Recent Developments in the Quantum Hall Effects."

Since 1999 Halperin has been scientific director of the Harvard Center for Imaging and Mesoscale Structures. In 2001 he was awarded the Lars Onsager Prize by the American Physical Society.

The Cornell lectures, established in 1977 by the Department of Physics and the College of Arts and Sciences, honor Bethe, who won a Nobel Prize in physics in 1967.