Study of Next-Generation Nanotech Earns Pitt's Gurudev Dutt 2010 Sloan Fellowship

Gurudev Dutt, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Pitt’s School of Arts and Sciences, was recently selected a 2010 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, a distinction that carries a two-year, $50,000 grant. Dutt was one of 118 young science researchers from 56 universities in the United States and Canada who received a 2010 fellowship, including faculty members at Cornell University, Duke University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California at Berkeley.

Dutt studies solid-state quantum systems ranging in size from single atoms to macroscopic collections of atoms coupled together. These systems show significant potential in next-generation nanotechnologies as well as in information processing and storage devices far superior to current computers. Dutt uses diamond-based materials and nanostructures to test how coherence and entanglement behave in a solid-state environment similar to that of future electronic devices.

Dutt won a National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2009 to explore how to control the quantum coherence (the phase of electron waves) and quantum entanglement (linking of atoms for combined power) of these highly advanced systems. Coherence and entanglement would allow the atoms in quantum systems to function cooperatively, increasing an electronic device’s power and speed.

Numerous Pitt researchers have been selected as Sloan fellows since the awards were established in 1955. Among them are 2009 Fellows Brent Doiron, an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics, and Michael Grabe, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, both in Pitt’s School of Arts and Sciences.