A greatly magnified image of quantum dots. UNL electrical engineers have patented a process that causes the nanoscale objects to appear spontaneously on sheets of aluminum. Despite their tiny size (the scale in the image is in nanometers: one nanometer equals one-billionth of a meter), the objects have the potential to revolutionize computers, protect satellites and provide a host of other possible uses.

Laboratory's Quantum Dot Research Could Yield Quantum Changes in Computers; Non­Linear Optics

By Tom Simons, UNL Public Relations

Like latter-day Thomas Edisons, researchers in the department of electrical engineering have labored for years in search of just the right combination of elements.

And like Edison in his search to perfect the electric light bulb, if Supriyo Bandyopadhyay (ban-duh-pad-high) and his colleagues succeed, they will have a discovery that could revolutionize how the world works.

Bandyopadhyay's Quantum Device Laboratory at UNL is one of a handful of labs in the United States in the final round of two federal government funding competitions to develop quantum dot-based electronics. The Nebraska group has patented a technique that produces quantum dots, tiny structures that are 10,000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair, but whose potential is staggering. In the next few decades, they could make binary computers obsolete and in a few years could make satellites safer from laser attacks.

"There are many applications for quantum dots," Bandyopadhyay said. "The obvious application is that you can make very small structures and if you can store information in them, you can have very high information storage density. You can also use these structures to do very efficient, very high-speed computation. You can build quantum computers."

"As an example of what quantum computers can do, let's say that you wanted to build a computer that has two to the 1,000th power (21,000) bits of data. You could never build a classical computer to do that because the number two to the 1,000th power is larger than the number of atoms in the known universe. With a quantum computer, all you would need is just 1,000 atoms to build a computer that powerful."

In other words, a device far too small to be seen by the naked eye would vastly outstrip in power and speed any computer now in existence. It would also do it without generating heat and may be capable of storing data indefinitely. In contrast, conventional computers produce large amounts of heat and have to refresh their data several times a second to avoid losing it.

A quantum computer would be able to do all that because of how the laws of physics change at the atomic, or quantum, level.

"There are some fundamental properties of any quantum mechanical system, namely the ability of the quantum system to exist simultaneously in different states - the power to be in two different places at the same time, a phenomenon called 'quantum parallelism,'" Bandyopadhyay explained. "You have to be able encode bits of information in the various states of the atoms in an appropriate way so that you can do quantum mechanical manipulations with them."

Don't expect to run down to the local Radio Shack to buy one anytime soon, however.

Bandyopadhyay and five fellow UNL electrical engineers studying nanotechnology, Rod Dillon, Ned Ianno, Latika Menon, Paul Snyder and Frazer Williams, have been working on quantum computer research for about three years and have succeeded in demonstrating new types of computer memory. But Bandyopadhyay said his team is probably five years away from being able to demonstrate a small-scale quantum computer in the lab, while commercial versions probably won't be available for 20 to 25 years.

Another breakthrough that Bandyopadhyay and colleagues are working on will probably be implemented much sooner.

Quantum dots can also be used to create high-speed, non-linear optical devices that would shield satellites from laser attack and improve the military's abilities in electronic warfare, infrared imaging, night vision and surveillance.

"If you shine a light on an object, some of the light is reflected. Non-linear optics means that the fraction of the reflected light depends on the intensity of the incident light," Bandyopadhyay said. "By changing the intensity of the incident light, you can change the fraction of the incident light that is reflected.

"We set a world record in that by demonstrating the largest non-linear coefficients in some semiconductor quantum dots. We were able to do that by essentially making the structures very small and in a very well-ordered, regimented array. People get excited if they get a tiny percent increase and we got a 500 percent increase."

At first glance, the UNL team's patented process for producing quantum dots is simplicity itself. Bandyopadhyay and his colleagues take a piece of aluminum, subject it to electro-chemical processes and the quantum dots spontaneously appear on the surface of the aluminum. But the devil is in the details. The chemical solution has to be just the right mixture, and the electrical current has to be at just the right power level and used for exactly the right length of time. Otherwise, the dots won't arrange themselves in the perfectly ordered rows that Bandyopadhyay and his team need.

"There has been a whole lot of experimentation and it's still going on," Bandyopadhyay said. "We've been working on this for five or six years now and it's far from perfect. Maybe in another five or six years we can perfect it."

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Brazil's Media, Peace Corps Round Out Stricklin's Global Experience

By Scott Franzen, Public Relations Intern

Mike Stricklin believes that one can not be a true global citizen without knowing another culture.

The professor of news-editorial journalism and director of graduate studies in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications became entranced by Brazil's culture while in the Peace Corps in the late 1960s.

His Brazilian experience began in 1966 just after he graduated from Baylor University. Stricklin and his wife, Chere, spent two years in Brazil with the Peace Corps. Besides knowing that Brazil was the largest country in South America and at the time sported the world's best soccer team, the couple knew little about the country. The intrigue of experiencing the mysteries of Brazilian culture and what secrets the tropic nights held added to their decision to choose Brazil.

"I was prepared to try out a different culture but didn't know what to expect," Stricklin said.

During those two years, the couple started a kindergarten in Brejo Grande ­ which means 'big swamp," a small rice-growing village along Brazil's Atlantic coast. A study had shown a chronic 100 percent failure rate among the first-grade class because the children entered school without the basic tools of learning, such as knowing how to hold a pencil. The kindergarten was created to better equip the students with fundamental tools to succeed in first grade.

Although he didn't teach at the school, being an instrumental part of helping young children learn was deeply gratifying, he said. The experience showed them how two ordinary people could make a difference at a local level.

In 1986, 18 years after he finished his Peace Corps duty, Stricklin again traveled to the land of the Amazon and Carnival revelry, when he got involved with the Partners of America exchange program. He's since been to Brazil six times.

He spent the fall semester of 1999 at the Federal University of Paiui as a Fulbright Scholar and visited again last summer. He has spent eight of the last 12 months in Brazil.

As a result, he has become well versed in Brazilian culture. The visits increased his perspective of evaluating American culture and society, he said.

By infusing his knowledge of Brazil into his journalism classes at UNL, he hopes his students learn how to evaluate and discuss news and issues occurring globally.

The Federal University of Paiui is UNL's sister university in Brazil. When he's there, Stricklin teaches Brazilians how to adapt to the functions of the freedom of the press.

Freedom of the press is a relatively new concept for Brazilians; it was voted into their constitution in 1988 and they are still learning how to view and adapt to the media as a tool of communication in their society.

"We take the freedom of the press for granted and have to physically remove ourselves from it, (but) Brazil is still adjusting to it after 12 years of having it as a part of their constitution," Stricklin said.

During the four months he spent there in 1996, he taught the first university course on the Internet, which was modeled after the Cyberspace and the Mass Media from the Grassroots course offered in UNL's College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

On a later trip, it was gratifying to hear one of his students in that course that tell him that he now uses the Internet all the time in his e-commerce business.

"It is exciting to help prepare young journalists for Brazil," he said.

The different cultures and social values of Brazil create a unique environment climate in which to critique Brazilian journalism.

Stricklin finds that Brazilian journalists are more sensationalistic in their reporting. They are more aggressive about sending an abundance of reporters out to cover different events, he said.

"What I worry about is that they don't know what to do (once encountering their assignment subject) and end up sensationalizing it," he said.

The position of journalism and media in Brazil currently parallels what American media were like in the pre-Jacksonian democracy in the 1820s, Stricklin said. Then, American newspapers were entirely partisan, much like Brazilian newspapers today.

There is no expectation of objectivity in the media in Brazil, as opposed to here in the United States, where there is homogenized news, Stricklin said.

One shared trait is that neither system has been revolutionary. Newspapers in both countries are very local in perspective, he said.

Along with George Tuck, news-editorial photography professor, Stricklin is seeking funds to translate an editing textbook into Portuguese for Brazilian students. None exist right now.

Gearing up for his trip next May, Stricklin is involved in setting up and participating in workshops for media professionals, attorneys and judges to learn what freedom of the press means and how to deal with it.

Programming Team Advances to World Finals

For the second time in three years, a team of UNL students placed first in the Association for Computing Machinery North Central Regional Programming Contest earlier this month in Lincoln

The win earned Lucas Sabalka, Joshua Brown and Yixin "Peter" Guo, all of Lincoln, a trip to the World Finals March 7-11 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Two years ago, the same team won the regional competition in Lincoln. They went on to compete in the World Finals in the Netherlands. But Sabalka foiled any plans for a repeat performance last year when he transferred to another school. He came back to UNL for his senior year and one last shot at a world title.

The contest required each team of three students to write computer programs using C, C++ and Java languages to solve problems in mathematics and logic. A team from Iowa State University took second place. The top two teams solved all eight problems in the five-hour contest.

Another Nebraska team - Daniel Buettner, Jeff Cutler and Lane Phillips, also all from Lincoln - captured third place and could be eligible for a wildcard berth in the World Finals after all regional competitions are completed in mid-December. Charles Riedesel, senior lecturer and chief undergraduate adviser in UNL's computer science and engineering department, coached the teams.

The North Central Regional Programming Contest included 24 teams from an area that includes Iowa, Kansas, Manitoba, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, northern Michigan and western Ontario.

Kinnison and Wingate developed the product as undergrads.

Students Develop Lip Smacking Good Use for Soy

By Michelle Oliver, Public Relations Intern

Someday, people might trade their Chapstick for Soy Smaks, a soybean-oil lip balm created by two UNL students.

Ginger Ivy Jo Wingate, a 21-year-old biological systems engineering and communications studies major from Adams, and Kelly Kinnison, a 21-year-old agricultural engineering major from Lexington, invented Soy Smaks, a soy-based lip balm. In the spring of 1999, the lip moisturizer won the pair the Nebraska Soybean Board's first Innovative Uses of Soybeans Contest and $1,000.

Wingate and Kinnison also received a $7,000 grant to do a consumer acceptance study of the product, said Lois Ronhovde, the accounting coordinator for the Nebraska Soybean Board.

The two have used part the grant money to pay for lip balm containers, which were bought on the Internet, and more Soy Smaks ingredients, Kinnison said. To find out how potential consumers may feel about the product, they have been giving away test samples and are looking into marketing.

The creation of the product began as a laboratory project for a biological systems engineering class at UNL.

"They went above and beyond the requirements needed for the class," said Curt Weller, the biological systems engineering professor who assigned the class projects. The final project for the class was to invent an agricultural product, document it, but not actually create it, Kinnison said. Or, the students could enter the Nebraska Soybean Board's Innovative Uses of Soybeans Contest.

"Ginger and I were friends before the class," Kinnison said. "And we thought, 'Why don't we work together and see if we can win some money?'"

Soybean boards in other states have given awards for soy products such as candles, adhesives, cleaners and crayons, Ronhovde said. Wingate and Kinnison thought of creating such products as soybean-oil peanut butter or soy flakes cereal, but they decided on lip balm.

"Ginger said, 'Wouldn't it be cool to start a cosmetic line with soy oil in it?'" Kinnison said.

And the research for the soy cosmetic line began.

The two studied cosmetic-making books and went to stores and looked at the ingredients in commercial lipsticks and lip moisturizers, Kinnison said.

To figure out possible ingredient mixes, the pair tested melting points of commercial lipstick and blended different amounts of ingredients.

But the major breakthrough in creating the winning product came by trying again and again.

"The first few tries were horrible," Kinnison said. "One was too runny, the other too hard. It took about a week and a half of trying every day before we came up with a product that worked."

The final product is clear and soft enough to apply to lips with little pressure and has antioxidants to keep the soy balm fresh. It comes in one flavor: peppermint. They did try making cinnamon-flavored Soy Smaks, though, Kinnison said.

"It burned our lips, and the contest deadline was near," Kinnison said. "So we decided to only use peppermint." But they might pursue creating a cinnamon-flavored one later, she said.

Right now, though, the pair wants to focus on marketing the original peppermint flavored Soy Smaks, Kinnison said.

2nd Annual Soy Product Contest Open to Students

By Molly Klocksin, IANR news writer

College students with a great idea for a new soybean product can turn their idea into reality by competing in the Innovative Uses of Soybeans contest.

The Nebraska Soybean Board and UNL's Industrial Agricultural Products Center and the are seeking entries from Nebraska college and university students for their jointly sponsored contest.

Winning and runner-up entries identifying creative new ways to use soybeans will receive $3,500 and $2,500 in cash prizes, respectively, and honorable mention entries will earn $250, said Loren Isom, technical assistance coordinator for NU's Industrial Agricultural Products Center.

Contest participants will learn how to develop, market and write funding proposals for a product.

"Students might combine their contest entry with a research or marketing project, or make it the basis for an independent study course," Isom said.

Previous winners have explored the patent process and received additional funds for market research on their product, Isom said.

The contest gives students a chance to focus on their strengths and interests outside school and to develop a commercial product or idea before they graduate, said Victor Bohuslavsky, the soybean board's executive director.

Entries for the 2001 contest will be accepted from Jan. 1 through May 1, 2001. There is no entry fee. Contestants may work with an adviser or professor, individually or as a team. The contest is being announced now so students have time to plan an entry as part of their second semester class work.

Each entry must include: a written report describing the product and how it was developed; projected market impact of the product; and a product sample.

Entries will be evaluated by a team of NU faculty. The Nebraska Soybean Board will present the awards at its July 2001 meeting.

For more information, visit the NU Industrial Agricultural Products website at http://agproducts.unl.edu/ or contact Isom at (402) 472-8187 or lisom@unl.edu.

The Industrial Agricultural Products Center is part of IANR.

Airplane Purchase Solidifies UNL­UNO

Joint Program in Remote Sensing Research

By Tom Simons, Public Relations

Sometimes it pays to dream.

That can be especially true for scientists and it can also be true for pilots (as long as they're not airborne). Sometimes a dream can turn into a reality with widespread practical benefits.

That is just what is happening for UNL's remote-sensing program and UNO's Aviation Institute. According to Ram Narayanan, a professor of electrical engineering at UNL associated with UNL's Center for Electro-Optics, the dream led to a $450,000 National Science Foundation Epscor grant that will purchase an airplane and establish the University of Nebraska Remote-Sensing Facility.

"We have a strong remote-sensing program at UNL consisting of about 30 faculty members spread across various departments and colleges, and we're very competitive with other institutions in the breadth, scope and depth of the work that we do. We also recognized that UNO has a very strong program in aviation science and technology. We combined the strengths of the two institutions and came up with a unique specialty that will be a resource not only for Nebraska, but for the entire country."

The airplane acquired as part of the grant will give UNL's remote-sensing scientists a ready-at-hand airborne platform that they've lacked in the past, and will provide the UNO Aviation Institute with advanced aviation technology to relate to upper-level aviation students.

In remote sensing, scientists gather information about a target from a remote location - a boom mounted on a truck or other vehicle, an aircraft or a spacecraft - using sensors operating on different electromagnetic wavelengths. The information can be used, for example, to monitor soil moisture or crop stress.

UNL scientists have a boom on a unique field vehicle called "Goliath" and they have ready access to satellite images, but until now they've had to go to NASA with flight requests to place their sensors on NASA aircraft - a process that can sometimes take a year or more. The system has allowed the UNL remote-sensing program to do good work, but it doesn't allow a lot of flexibility, said Donald Rundquist, professor and director of the Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and co-author of the grant with Narayanan and Brent Bowen, professor and director of the UNO Aviation Institute.

"With our own aircraft and our own sensors, we'll be able to collect the data we want, when we want, in the way we want to, using the spectral bands that we want," Rundquist said. "It's going to give us a great deal of flexibility in collecting data."

Bowen said the aircraft presents new and valuable opportunities for the Aviation Institute and its students.

"This will provide great flight experiences for our advanced students," he said. "The researchers will want to overfly precise courses and that will be a great learning opportunity for our future professional pilots and administrators. The grant will also enable us to hire a person to maintain the aircraft and work on other projects at the Aviation Institute. It will be a nice employment opportunity for someone and it will be a very good complement to the institute."

In the first year of the grant, the institute used grant funds to identify and purchase the aircraft, a single-engine Piper Saratoga. The plane came with six seats, but the four in the rear will be removed and the plane further modified to accommodate the experimental sensor technology being developed by Narayanan, Rundquist and colleagues.

"We're interested in how to calibrate aircraft sensors and that involves having known targets on the ground. We can fly over those targets and better calibrate those sensors," Rundquist said. "The folks at the Agricultural Research and Development Center near Ithaca have been kind enough to give us some concrete floors (of old ammunition bunkers) painted in a certain way with certain levels of reflectance that will be useful for that calibration. The purpose is to understand what we see with Goliath, the aircraft and satellite systems, and see how it all ties together.

"Two words describe what we want to do: 'research' and 'application.' The aircraft gives us research capabilities that we haven't had, and we're interested in developing practical applications of remote-sensing technology that hopefully we'll be able to spin off into the private sector once we've done the research and development."