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The current trend of miniaturization in virtually every industry is illuminating new questions about the behavior of matter on small length scales. When devices and systems of interest contain only a few thousand atoms, neither the fundamental theories of quantum mechanics nor theories of the continuum limit are practical for predicting dynamic behavior. This is the realm of nanoscience and nanotechnology, and it is here that basic notions of the physics of matter-- friction and wear, how electrons flow, and how heat is generated and dissipated, come into question. Ultimately, the guiding physical principles will come from direct observation of operational systems at the nanoscale.

The primary goal of my research is to advance the current understanding of the dynamic properties of nanoscale systems. The future of many fields of the physical and biological sciences lies in nanotechnology, and as the size of functional devices progresses ever smaller, there will inevitably be problems that can only be addressed by direct real-time observations. A number of research groups are focusing on using scanned probe techniques, such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic-force microscopy (AFM), to explore dynamic properties at the nanoscale, but these slow imaging techniques are poor at capturing these effects. My research goes beyond this approach by using real-time imaging techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to explore fundamental physics on small length scales.

To learn more about electron microscopy, visit the University of Maryland's NISP lab website.

For a complete list of over 50 publications, please visit Professor Cumins' web site

• Kamal H. Baloch, Norvik Voskanian, Merijntje Bronsgeest, and John Cumings, Remote Joule heating by a carbon nanotube, Nature Nanotechnology, 7(5), p. 316 (2012). (PDF)
• Stephen A. Daunheimer, Olga Petrova, Oleg Tchernyshyov, John Cumings, Reducing Disorder in Artificial Kagome Ice, Physical Review Letters, 107(16), 167201 (2011). (PDF)
• Kamal H. Baloch, Norvik Voskanian, and John Cumings, Controlling the thermal contact resistance of a carbon nanotube heat spreader, Applied Physics Letters, 97(6), 063105 (2010). (PDF)
• Todd Brintlinger, Yi Qi, Kamal H. Baloch, D. Goldhaber-Gordon, and John Cumings, Electron Thermal Microscopy, Nano Letters, 8(2), 582 (2008). (PDF)