Single-Molecule Optoelectronics

Tae-Hee Lee received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Sogang University in Seoul, Korea, and his Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is currently a postdoctoral scholar in Prof. Steven Chu's group at Stanford University. His research interests are in single-molecule dynamics and nanoscale energy and charge transport.

Jose I. Gonzalez is a native of Barranquilla, Colombia. He received B.S. degrees in chemistry and mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001 and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests are in the interplay between the electrical and optical properties of nanoscale species.

Jie Zheng obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Inner Mongolia University and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests are in the optical and electronic properties of nanoscale metals along the atom to nanoparticle transition.

Robert M. Dickson received his B.A. from Haverford College in 1991 and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago with Prof. Takeshi Oka in 1996. He spent 2 years as a postdoctoral fellow in W. E. Moerner's lab at UC−San Diego. He joined the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech in July 1998, where he is currently an Associate Professor. Dr. Dickson is a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher−Scholar and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, and was named the Blanchard Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 2001. He is active in the fields of single-molecule microscopy, nanoscale metal optical properties and nanoscale charge injection and electroluminescence.

With discrete states, several-atom Ag_n nanoclusters exhibit molecule-like behavior with strong visible fluorescence and robust optical properties. This new class of single-molecule fluorophores has been created and electrically contacted in thin films to produce the first electroluminescent single molecules. A direct reporter of nanoscale charge injection and transport through discrete energy levels, bright Ag_n electroluminescence has been harnessed to create single-molecule light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and optoelectronic logic gates and even to demonstrate full addition operations. These experiments utilizing the small size and quantum behavior of individual Ag nanoclusters usher in the new field of single-molecule optoelectronics.