KRONIG LECTURE BY DON EIGLER, DECEMBER 8

Dr. Don Eigler is a renowned physicist who specializes in studying the physics of surfaces and nanometer-scale structures. In late 1989, using the liquid-helium-temperature scanning tunneling microscope that he had built, Dr. Eigler demonstrated for the first time the ability to build structures at the atomic level by spelling out I-B-M with individual xenon atoms.

Since then, Dr. Eigler has led an active group of scientists in a series of experiments aimed at extending basic knowledge about the physics of atomic-scale structures and exploring the potential for atomic-scale logic and data-storage technologies. His groups results include discovering that magnetic impurity atoms alter the electronic structure of superconductors over a surprisingly short range, measuring for the first time how electrical conductance through single- and double-atom wires varies with element, inventing a new kind of electron trap called a uantum corral, demonstrating the ability to image electron density waves on metal surfaces, and inventing an atomic-scale switch.

Dr. Eigler was educated at the University of California at San Diego, where he received a bachelors degree in physics (1975) and a doctorate in physics (1984). He was a Postdoctoral Member of the Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories for two years before joining IBM as a Research Staff Member in 1986. In 1993, Dr. Eigler was named an IBM Fellow, the highest technical honor in the corporation.

The Kronig lecture takes place on Wednesday December 8, 11:45-12:30 in the Aula, Lecture Room D.