Understanding the physics behind these novel properties allows us to identify and target particular materials, shapes and heterostructures that will produce desirable or simply unique properties and helps us to design, perform and interpret advanced spectroscopic probes of synthesized materials to observe the sought-after effects and elucidate the effects of small changes in structure. In this regard, our group is interested in performing the electronic structure calculations of these complex heterostructures as well as studying the optical and magnetic properties associated with these particles.