Ricardo Decca, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Physics

In a world where major breakthroughs in research are few and far between, School of Science physics professor Dr. Ricardo Decca carries on in anticipation of those rare moments when for him life’s work is rewarded.

“When you get that one result nobody else has,” explains Decca, “after months and months of frustration with experiments not doing what you want them to do and nature not behaving the way you’d like nature to behave, there is a very short period of time when you know something that nobody else knows — that is the driving force.”

Decca’s research is part of the exciting and emerging field of nanoscale technology. Using Near-field Scanning Optical Microscopy (NSOM), Decca and his team investigate the properties of condensed matter systems at the nanoscale. This technology allows scientists to measure things on a much smaller scale than ever before, such as the interaction between two molecules. Most of Decca’s work is accomplished through the School of Science’s Center for Nanoscale Imaging, which houses the only instruments and equipment of their kind in the state.

“Without the support of the School of Science, opening the center here at IUPUI would have been impossible,” says Decca, who joined the school’s faculty in 2000. “The support we’ve received for new ideas here at the school is very encouraging.”

Decca describes his research as basic science — undertaken not because it may have some direct application, but to further fundamental understanding. Other examples of his work include measuring minute crystals of materials called quantum dots and examining lipid bilayers to better understand the properties and function of cellular membranes. Decca is also involved in experiments to detect variations in gravitational attraction at very small separations. Regarding this search for new forces at the nanoscale, IUPUI is one of only seven academic institutions nationwide engaged in experiments of this type.

When not in the lab or teaching a 200-level physics course, Decca spends time in his garage workshop on what he calls “an antidote for research” — woodworking. In addition to furniture making, Decca has constructed both a canoe and a kayak, projects that took a total of nearly 200 hours to complete. Admitting that he built both for “the challenge of being able to make one,” Decca has used his canoe and kayak on excursions along the White River and at Eagle Creek.

“With research you can go literally months without seeing any progress,” says Decca. “Woodworking’s advantage is that you can go into the shop and at the end of the day you can show something.”