This technique is similar to the way a gem cutter exposes the crystal facets of a diamond. However, the detached electronic material contains defects that show up in the form of holes and dips, he said. There are existing theories that attempt to explain why these defects occur, but they are oversimplified according to Streitz. As a theorist, Streitz is attempting to improve these models to eliminate the defects. Barnes, an experimentalist, has the ability to perform the necessary experiments to test the theory, Streitz said.
Experiments can take from one week to a month to complete, and are expensive to perform.
However, once we have a sound theory, the expected outcome can be calculated on a computer, which is faster and much cheaper. The work of Barnes and Streitz is being done through the Faculty Mentoring Program, which is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research .