by Michael Wilkerson laboratory in the basement of IU
Bloomingtons historic Swain Hall where David Baxter works might
seem a long way from the boardrooms of high-technology
corporations in California, but as Baxter and his colleagues in
the IUB Department of Physics continue to produce new
theoretical and experimental discoveries, the gap between the
two environments is shrinking. Not many years ago, physicists
like Baxter used to describe their discoveries and experiments
as being far removed from any kind of application in business or
consumer technology. Now, however, the rapid discovery of
semiconducting and other technologically useful materials has
led to new avenues for Baxter and his colleagues to explore. I
look at problems that are related to materials or processes that
are of interest to technology at some level, says Baxter, an
associate professor of physics who has worked at IU since 1987.
I concentrate not on the technology itself, but on the
underlying physics issues that people who are trying