Science at the Shine Dome 2010

New Fellows Seminar

Wednesday 5 May

Professor Steven Prawer FAA
Melbourne Materials Institute, University of Melbourne

Steven Prawer is the inaugural head of the Melbourne Materials Institute and a professor of physics at the University of Melbourne. His prime research interests have been the exploration of the physics of materials, with a special emphasis on exploiting the outstanding physical and optical properties of diamond and related materials. His research into the nanodiamond has led to prototype devices which are now being commercialised for incorporation into ultra-secure communication systems. In his role as director of MMI he is developing an all-diamond electrode array for use in the development of the bionic eye; a project which has recently been awarded $42 million in Commonwealth funding.

From 2000-2002, Steven was the inaugural director of the Melbourne node of the Special Research Centre for Quantum Computer Technology, ushering the university into the nanotechnology revolution. He has served as associate director of the Nanostructural Analysis Network Organisation and now is on the board of the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication.

Steven has over 230 reviewed scientific publications, which have attracted over 3500 citations and four patents and has been awarded over $20 million in research and infrastructure funding. His awards include appointment to the editorial board of Diamond and Related Materials, the Lady Davis Visiting Professorship, Australian Institute of Physics Youth Lecturer, a doctorate of science based on published works, the David Syme Research Prize, Fulbright Senior Visiting Fellowship, and visiting fellowship of Wolfson College, Oxford. In 2008 he was awarded the Royal Society of Victoria research medal in recognition of his seminal contribution to Australian diamond science and technology.

Diamond: A physicist’s best friend

Pure diamond is normally crystal clear. The introduction of foreign atoms leads to a range of brilliant colours. Remarkably, it is possible to detect the light emitted from single atoms embedded in diamond and the colour of this light is exquisitely sensitive to fundamental quantum mechanical properties of nearby atoms in the diamond crystal lattice. We have now learned how to harness these properties of diamond to control light and matter at the level of individual atoms and photons, which is leading to new quantum mechanical technologies for communication and sensing. We have shown how to sculpt diamond single crystals with ion beams to build devices for focusing and channelling light captured from single atoms. We also grow diamond nanocrystals starting from methane gas and harvest the light from them to produce photon sources uniquely suited for ultra secure communications. The first of our devices based on these technologies is now entering the market. The future holds even more promise for diamond based probes of subtle biological processes that will allow us to master energy and information on the nanoscale and to build critical components for prosthesis such as the Bionic Eye. Diamond offers a material platform for testing of the most exotic of ideas from quantum mechanics to biophysics and realizing these ideas in real and useful devices. It is truly a physicist’s best friend.