APSU physics professor receives $300,000 NSF grant to conduct research on innovative glass materials
December 7, 2016
Clarksville, TN – Crystalline materials form the foundation of virtually all electronic equipment, serve as the engine powering Silicon Valley and have enabled the modern computing revolution.
But despite their importance, crystalline materials, which include silicon and sapphire and are valued for their unique properties, are naturally rare and expensive to produce. By contrast glass materials, which do not arrange their atoms in a regular crystal structure, are inexpensive and easily produced.
For the past few years, Austin Peay State University undergraduate students and professors have been traveling the globe to work with some of the world’s leading experts in glass production as they explore possible substitutes for crystalline materials in computing, optical technology and other modern applications.
