Bulletin

Issue: September/October 2007

News

Nano-electronics student wins Victoria Fellowship

When it comes to thinking small and fast, researcher Andrew Walter excels. A postgraduate student in the Department of Physics, he is trying to make electronic devices smaller and faster to meet consumer demand.

Working with the next wave of electronic technology – spintronics and quantum computing – Mr Walter is investigating the electronic and magnetic properties of nanometer thin metallic film in a bid to develop the next generation of electronic devices. A nanometre is one billionth of a metre. His research includes manufacturing the films as well as designing and constructing equipment to analyse them.

Mr Walter was one of six winners of the prestigious 2007 Victoria Fellowships awarded recently by the Governor of Victoria, Professor David de Kretser, at a function at Government House.

The Victoria Fellowships, worth $18,000 each, were established ten years ago by the Victorian Government to recognise young researchers with leadership potential and to enhance their future careers, while developing new ideas which could offer commercial benefit to Victoria.

Mr Walter will use his Victoria Fellowship to further his research by visiting scientific laboratories in England, France and Germany to develop techniques and collaborations related to spintronics, magnetism and the production of nanometer thin films.

He will manufacture films between five and 30 atoms thick, making use of the expertise and equipment available at BESY, a synchrotron light source in Berlin. Synchrotrons are particle accelerators that produce high-density X-rays used for gathering data on the structure of materials.

Mr Walter will also visit SPECS GmbH in Berlin, a scientific instrument company, to learn more about the components that are needed to build scientific instruments that are able to analyse the films.

He hopes the study mission will help pave the way for further investment in spintronics and quantum computing, destined to replace conventional electronics.

Mr Walter is undertaking a doctorate in solid state physics in the Department of Physics. He completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours at La Trobe in 2005. He is one of many University researchers interested in designing and constructing scientific instruments. (See story, right)

Another Victoria Fellowship winner was La Trobe graduate, Simon Craig, Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Honours) 2003. The award will help him further his work into the use of liquid fertilisers in agriculture in order to improve crop production.

Mr Craig’s research in the Wimmera Mallee region has concentrated on using a liquid form of fertiliser and researching more effective ways of applying it.

He is a research officer with Birchip Cropping Group since 2004, where La Trobe fourth Agriculture students regularly carry out projects.