RESEARCH into nanotechnology will receive a major boost in April 2016, as the Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology launches at the University of Sydney.
The cross-disciplinary institute and flagship, housed in a $150m building, will provide a world-leading environment for scientists working on the cutting edge of nanotechnology, in order to address some of the biggest challenges facing society.
The building will include a room – one of just five extant in the world today – which is fully controlled for electronic interference, magnetic interference, vibration and climate variation.
To protect the room against magnetic interference, a detector which checks for magnetic field variations will pump an electronic charge around the walls if it detects any magnetic field variations, counteracting the interference.
It is in this room where precision work in the nano-scale will be carried out. At this scale, the quantum states of individual atoms and electrons can be isolated and manipulated.
A major focus for the Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology will be in quantum mechanics with a focus on developing quantum computing capabilities. It will be made available to a community of nanoscale researchers in medicine, engineering, environmental science chemistry, physics and other sciences, and also opened up for use by quantum tech entrepreneurs.
Other facilities in the building include a cleanroom, a foundry for nanochip manufacturing nad testing, various other labs, offices, lecture theatres and space for students. Within the cleanroom, researchers will continue the development of “lab on a chip” technologies, where a single microchip can be used to test blood for proteins and other disease markers.
The Sydney Nanoscience Hub will open on 20 April, after a public lecture on 19 April.