This dissertation presents two experimental studies of DNA polymers inside nanofluidic devices with well-defined topographic features. Those features include square pits and rectangular trenches etched …
Perovskite solar cells have attracted considerable attention in recent years due to their rapidly increasing power conversion efficiency, which currently exceeds 24%. Despite this success …
Statistical descriptions are well-suited for chaotic systems and turbulent flows. A common strategy for studying the statistics of such systems is Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS). …
Gradients of voltage, pressure, temperature, and salinity can transport objects in micro- and nanofluidic systems by well known mechanisms. Relatively little experimental work has previously …
Silicon photonics is a rapidly-developing field at the confluence of silicon microelectronicsand fiber optics. In this talk we explore several interesting systems of light in …
This dissertation covers fundamental studies and application motivated research exploring the coupling between LC and polymers in unique systems. The interaction of these materials link …
Swimming bacteria move through their environment using one or more helical flagella, each of which are rotated by a flagellar motor. These rotating helical flagella …
In this thesis we address the question of pattern selection in spatially extendedsystems in the presence of stochastic noise. As a model equation, we study …
The application of a second-order equal-time cumulant expansion (CE2) or, equivalently, the quasilinear approximation (QL) to planetary-scale flows has shown promise. This is in part …
The lack of an efficient and stable numerical method remains a serious bottleneck for long-time simulations. Time parallel integration methods can break the bottleneck by …
Coherent structures such as large-scale jets and vortices are ubiquitous in natural quasi-two-dimensional (2D) turbulence such as atmospheres. I study statistical approaches to 2D turbulence …
There exists a fluidic version of the electrostatic field-effect, by which the transport of ions and charged objects in solution can be controlled in nanoscale …
This dissertation is split into two parts with the first focusing on characterizing cell motility, and the second focusing on linking cell motility to cell …
Most motile bacteria propel themselves through fluid by rotating corkscrew-like filaments called flagella. Understanding the details of how and why bacteria move the way they …
Nanopores can be used as sensors to probe the structure of single polymers. In a typical experiment, a thin insulating membrane containing a nanometer-scale pore …
Solid-state nanopores are an important class of biosensor that can detect the presence of a macromolecule inside the nanopore by a corresponding blockage in the …
Wavenumber selection in pattern-forming systems remains a long-standing puzzle in physics. Pattern-forming systems are characterized by the growth of a band of periodic solutions from …