Department of Physics
Prof. Kenneth Brown (ECE, secondary Physics) is the leader of a collaboration of seven universities planning to build the world's first practical quantum computer in the next five years. Read more in Pratt's story "Duke to Lead $15 Million Program to Create First Practical Quantum Computer" here and stay tuned for more exciting updates. read more about Prof. Brown Leading Team to Build First Practical Quantum Computer »
One year ago the Dark Energy Survey (DES) released the initial cosmological results from its first year of data using a combined analysis of weak gravitational lensing and the clustering of large-scale structure in the Universe. New Duke Physics Prof. Michael Troxel (incoming January 1, 2019) lead the weak lensing analysis that went into these combined constraints, which have now been published in Physical Review D and are featured in an APS 'Viewpoint' article "Weak Lensing Becomes a High-… read more about Incoming Prof. Troxel Published in Physics Review D and Featured in APS Viewpoint »
Ultimately, all matter is governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Intriguing quantum physics is leveraged in various technical applications like high-temperature superconductivity and it fuels high hopes for a revolution in information technology through quantum computation. As it turns out, there are fundamental limitations for our options to probe quantum systems. While the complexity of a quantum system increases quickly when considering larger and larger system sizes, we usually just… read more about Large quantum systems are masters at hiding their qualities. »
This summer Prof. Mark Kruse’s high school One Tree Hill College in Auckland, New Zealand presented him with an alumni award and students performed the haka. There are many variants of the haka and it is historically a Maori war dance but also performed to show great honor and respect. You can watch the award presentation and haka here. read more about Prof. Kruse Honored with Alumni Award and Haka »
Prof. Mark Kruse was interviewed by New Zealand's TVNZ 1's show Breakfast discussing the Large Hadron Collider. Watch it here. read more about Prof. Kruse Interviewed by New Zealand News Show »
The Physics Department will host a free open house to view the Persied meteor shower from the Duke Teaching Observatory in Duke Forest on Monday, August 13 at 8:30pm. WRAL News has publicized the event details in a story about local gatherings for this astronomy event on their WeatherCenter blog. Read it here. Check out the Duke Teaching Observatory's webpage for more open house events this year. read more about Duke Teaching Observatory to Host Perseid Meteor Shower Event »
Prof. Dr. Matthias Sperl, professor for Physics of Granular Matter at the University of Cologne and member of the Institute of Materials Physics in Space shared the following exciting news: With the enclosed picture floating next to the instrument Soft-Matter Dynamics on the International Space Station, there will be a dedication of it to Prof. Bob Behringer's memory. The instrument was sent up by SpaceX-15 on June 29, installed by German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst on… read more about Soft-Matter Dynamics Instrument on ISS to be Dedicated in Prof. Bob Behringer's Memory »
The Triangle Universities Nuclear Lab (TUNL) has been featured in The Chronicle's series Flashback in an article, out today, called "Flashback: Building Duke's nuclear lab". Read it on The Chronicle's website here. read more about TUNL Featured by The Chronicle in Flashback Series »
With deepest regrets we report that Robert P. Behringer, James B. Duke Professor, passed away on July 10, 2018. Bob received both his B.S. (1970) and PhD (1975) from Duke Physics, served as department chair from 1999-2002, lead the successful Behringer Group researching aspects of granular and fluid flows, received countless awards, and was beloved by all who knew him. DukeToday commemorated Bob with a lowering of flags and obituary online here. The News… read more about The Passing of Prof. Robert P. Behringer (1948-2018) »
Graduate student Erin Conley was included as one the Faces of DUNE (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment). She described her first DUNE presentation experience and you can read it on Fermilab's Twitter here and Facebook here. Conley is a member of Prof. Kate Scholberg's group. She became a New Young DUNE Representative last March and is researching supernova neutrinos. read more about Grad Student Conley is one of the Faces of DUNE »
It is with sadness that we report that Prof. Emeritus Richard Walter has passed away. His obituary can be found on Hall-Wynne's website here. Prof. Walter's life will be honored with a Catholic mass on Monday, July 2 at 11:30 a.m. at Few Chapel, 2600 Croasdaile Village Parkway. Family will receive friends beforehand at the chapel beginning at 10:30. Private burial to follow at St. Matthew Catholic Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Duke Homecare and… read more about The Passing of Prof. Emeritus Richard Walter »
Congratulations to Prof. Anselm Vossen, who received the Department of Energy's Early Career Award. Read the press release on Duke Today here and find more information on the award here. 6/28/18 update: NewsWise prepared a nice article "Gaining New Insights Into Proton Structure" that can be found here. read more about Prof. Vossen Awarded DOE's Early Career Award »
Graduate student Connor Awe was awarded Best National Laboratory Collaboration by the NNSA for his work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory last summer. Awe’s research focused on searches for coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) and evaluation of new neutrino detector designs as part of the COHERENT collaboration. Fellow graduate student Jay Runge accepted the award on Awe’s behalf at the University Program Review while he was away presenting a poster at Neutrino 2018. Awe’s… read more about Graduate Student Awe Recipient of NNSA's Best National Laboratory Collaboration »
Gas phase optically pumped far infrared (OPFIR) lasers were once the most powerful sources of radiation in the challenging terahertz spectral region. Unfortunately, these lasers were enormous, often filling an entire optical table to produce milliwatts of power and requiring a different gas each time a different wavelength was needed. Consequently, when more compact, more tunable alternative sources of terahertz radiation were discovered, OPFIR lasers were largely abandoned. However, in the mid-1980’s… read more about Gas Phase Terahertz Lasers Make a Comeback »
Former Visiting Assistant Professor Hannah Petersen was awarded the 2018 Zimanyi Medal for her pioneering development of an event by event hybrid approach for high energy heavy ion collisions. The award was presented to Dr. Petersen at the Quark Matter 2018 conference in Venice, Italy. More information on the Zimanyi Medal may be found here. Photo credit: QM2018 read more about Former Visiting Assistant Professor Petersen Awarded Zimanyi Medal »
Earlier this month, QCD group graduate students Yingru Xu and Weiyao Ke traveled to Venice, Italy to present posters on heavy Quark transport and transport coefficients presented at the Quark Matter 2018 conference. See Prof. Steffen Bass' original Tweet here. read more about Graduate Students Xu and Ke Presented Posters at QM2018 »
Duke Physics graduate student Nurul Taimur Islam, who completed his Ph.D. with Prof. Daniel J. Gauthier, was recognized with the Springer thesis prize. Nominated and endorsed by two experts in the field, each year Springer publishes a series of theses in recognition of outstanding research and impact. Islam's thesis on high-rate, high-dimensional quantum key distribution will be featured in this year's Springer's series. read more about Grad Student Islam Recognized with Springer Thesis Prize »
The Department of Physics held its 2018 Diploma Ceremony on Sunday, May 13th at the LSRC's Love Auditorium and Hall of Science. Family, friends, and faculty gathered to honor five majors in Biophysics, eleven majors in Physics, two minors in Physics, one Masters degree, and fifteen Doctors of Philosophy. Some graduating plans we are proud to announce: Our undergraduates are going on to do amazing things in the fields of research, technology, data analytics, and medicine. Some are pursuing PhDs in places like… read more about Diploma Ceremony 2018 »
The 2018 diploma ceremony will be recorded and live streamed here. Feel free to share the link with any friends and family who cannot make it to the event. In order to view the recording live in real time, place the link in your browser and refresh at 12:00pm on Sunday, May 13th. read more about 2018 Physics Diploma Ceremony to be Recorded and Live Streamed »
Two members of Duke Physics' faculty were awarded distinguished professorships on May 2nd at the annual University Distinguished Professors dinner: Christoph Schmidt, Hertha Sponer Professor of Physics, effective July 1, 2018 Kate Scholberg, Arts & Sciences Professor of Physics, effective July 1, 2018 See DukeToday's press release and a full list of Duke's twenty-six 2018 distinguished professorships here. read more about Profs. Schmidt and Scholberg Awarded Distinguished Professorships »
The 2018 Daphne Chang Memorial Award was presented to senior Jane Park on April 24th at the annual Undergraduate Poster Session. Jane's research with advisor Prof. Sara Haravifard focuses on Synthesis, Characterization, and Inelastic Neutron Scattering Studies of Breathing Pyrochlore Ba3Yb2Zn5O11 and she will graduate with high distinction this May. The Daphne Chang Memorial Award is given each year to undergraduate… read more about 2018 Daphne Chang Memorial Award »
The Duke Physics Department held the 2018 Undergraduate Poster Session on Wednesday, April 23. It was well attended and provided students a platform to share their research and practice their public speaking skills. First place prize went to Jane Park, second place to Kya Sorli, and third place to Micaela Kulvaranon. More pictures can be viewed on our Flickr account here. Photo caption: Kya Sorli presents her second place poster. read more about 2018 Undergraduate Poster Session »
Prof. Kenneth Brown (Electrical and Computer Engineerin, Physics, and Chemistry) is leading a joint U.S. and Australia Multi-University Research Initiative (MURI) looking at using spectator qubits to improve quantum computation in four physical platforms: ion traps, superconducting qubits, color centers in diamond, and donors in silicon. Qubits are the building blocks of quantum computers and the computational power of a quantum computer is limited by the quality of… read more about Prof. Brown Leads Initiative Using Spectator Qubits to Improve Quantum Computation »
Alum Katrina Miller (Physics, 2016) is a recipient of a 2018 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the Ford Fellowship. Miller was an undergraduate in Prof. Phil Barbeau's group before being accepted to the graduate school at the University of Chicago in the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. She was a member of the COHERENT experiment and worked on the development of novel tracking radiation detectors. Read more about what Miller has been up to lately on the KICP… read more about Alum Miller Recipient of 2018 NSF Graduate Research and Ford Fellowships »
Prof. Roxanne Springer gave a keynote plenary talk on Feynman at the APS April meeting held in Columbus, Ohio. Click here for the meeting's full schedule along with Springer's abstract. The entire plenary session was recorded and can be viewed on YouTube here. Prof. Springer's talk "Feynman's Footprints: Quantum Field Theory in Nuclear and Particle Physics" starts at about 1:17. read more about Prof. Springer Delivered Plenary Talk at APS April Meeting »
Congratulations to Prof. Mark Kruse and Ken McKenzie! In the categories of Overall Rating of Course and Overall Rating of Instructor, their course evaluations were among the top 5% of all undergraduate instructors in Trinity College for the Fall 2017 semester. read more about Kruse and McKenzie's Course Evaluations Among Top 5% »
Undergraduate student John Franklin Crenshaw has been designated a Faculty Scholar for the Class of 2019 by the Academic Council's Faculty Scholars Committee. From the committee's chair: "This is the highest honor that the faculty of Duke University can award its undergraduates. Your mentors, your Director of Undergraduate Studies, and the members of this committee believe that your intellectual engagement and remarkable scholarly accomplishments over the past two and one-half years exemplify the ideals… read more about Undergrad Crenshaw, Faculty Scholar for Class of 2019 »
Alumni Tom Carter (PhD, 1990), Professor of Physics at the College of DuPage, has been named the 2018 College-wide Outstanding Full-time Faculty Member. In his classes, Carter uses the iClicker, an electronic student response system, and has executed FlipIt Physics, an online tutoring system. Read on about these achievements and more in the story from DuPage's student newspaper The Courier here. Photo credit: Alison Pfaff, Assistant Photo Editor, The Courier read more about Alum Carter Wins Outstanding Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching »
We are sad to report the passing of alum Frances L. Lloyd (B.S., 1945) in March. Lloyd went on to receive her master's degree from the University of Virginia and worked for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Colorado. She was a key member of the team who developed the standards for the magnitude of the volt. Read about her groundbreaking life in The Washington Post's obituary online here. Photo credit: National Institute of Standards and Technology read more about Alum and Contributor to Voltage Standards, Frances L. Lloyd Passes Away »
Alum Hao Zhang (PhD '14), a former student of Prof. Albert Chang and now a researcher at Microsoft, was pictured along with Gizmodo's news story "Microsoft Creates Wild Half-Electron Quasiparticle for Its Future Quantum Computer." Our alumnae go on to be a part of exciting work. Congratulations, Hao! Read the story here. Photo Credit: Gizmodo read more about Alum Zhang a Part of Microsoft's Future Quantum Computer »