Faculty Affiliates

Charles Rogers Department of Physics UCB 390 Boulder, CO 80309 charles.rogers@colorado.edu Departmental Home Page

Professor Rogers' main topics of experimental study have been the physics of very small or reduced dimensional solid state systems and microfabricated devices. Three major areas constitute the current research effort. His laboratory has recently been studying magnetic phenomena associated with interfaces and surfaces. By constructing thin film stacks of specific materials and adjusting layer thicknesses, it is now possible to tune magnetic exchange, magnetostatic, and magnetocrystalline interactions so as to produce magnetic behaviors previously not found in nature. These layered magnetic systems display a variety of novel magnetic phases and phenomena. Current work uses transport and optical reflectivity measurements to study magneto fluctuation-dissipation processes and to study domain structure. Optical second harmonic generation at the magnetic interfaces is also being used to study surface and interfacial magnetism and is being developed as a near-field imaging technique. A related area is the growth and properties of thin-film mental oxides. These materials display a huge variety of basic physical effects including high temperature superconductivity, ferroelectric, and ferro or antiferromagnetic states. They offer many examples where the traditional band-theory of solids fails to provide a complete description of their behavior, and where thin film growth via broadband in situ optical reflectivity, and the study of superconductive and ferroelectric materials and devices. Most recently, his laboratory has begun work on the isolation of functional proteins for controlled study outside the cellular environment. The work utilizes self-assembled organic monolayer films and ultraviolet patterning to locally adhere selected proteins from solution. Current molecules of interest are the so called motor proteins, particularly the kinesin family, which convert chemical energy into mechanical energy. Such nanomachines are of major importance in cellular motion and cell division and may have applications outside of the biological context. Many of the projects involve researchers in other departments at the University of Colorado, especially from the College of Engineering and the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology are also involved. Colleagues from the NIST campus at Boulder and local industrial partners are also involved.