Department of Physics
Prof. and Chair Warren Warren's former coworker Donna Strickland has won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics for her work creating tools from beams of light. She is the first female Physics Nobel Laureate in over half a century. Strickland worked with Warren at Princeton University in the early 1990s and is now on the faculty at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Read more on The Guardian's website here. read more about Prof. Warren's Former Coworker Wins 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics »
The American Physical Society announced that Prof. Shailesh Chandrasekharan (nominated by the Division of Computational Physics), Prof. Ying Wu (nominated by the Division of Physics of Beams) and secondary faculty member Prof. Kenneth Brown (nominated by the Division of Quantum Information) have all been elected Fellows of the American Physical Society. The criterion for election is "exceptional contributions to the physics enterprise; e.g., outstanding physics research,… read more about Profs. Brown, Chandrasekharan, and Wu Elected APS Fellows »
Prof. Warren Warren received the 2018 William F. Meggers Award at the annual Optical Society (OSA) meeting in Washington, DC Dr. Warren's research interests and 300 publications reflect advances in fundamental physics and technology, with applications ranging from molecular spectroscopy to imaging in extremely complex systems (such as human tissue or a Renaissance painting). The Meggers Award recognizes his developments of coherent laser spectroscopy, including femtosecond laser pulse shaping and phase-… read more about Prof. Warren Received 2018 William F. Meggers Award »
Prof. Nicolas Brunel, with Ulises Pereira of the University of Chicago, has published new results about brain activity on bioRxiv. Read "Unsupervised learning of persistent and sequential activity" here. read more about Prof. Brunel Published New Results »
The Department of Physics at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina invites applications and nominations for a tenure-track position at the assistant professor level in the area of observational cosmology. The physics department is committed to building a faculty that is inclusive and is representative of our community and, for this reason, we strongly encourage applicants who come from groups that are historically underrepresented in physics departments. The successful candidate should demonstrate a strong… read more about Faculty Search: Assistant Professor in Observational Cosmology »
Prof. Roxanne Springer and colleagues have published an op-ed on The Back Page of APS News regarding the Feynman symposium at the April APS meeting and "APS in the #MeToo Era". Read it here. read more about Prof. Springer Published Op-Ed on APS in the #MeToo Era »
Graduate student Baran Bodur, of the Duke Neutrino and Cosmology Group, participated in the upgrade of the Super-Kamiokande underground neutrino detector during the summer of 2018. Super-K is being drained and refurbished for a next phase called “SK-Gd” with addition of gadolinium. Bodur helped with renewal of the outer detector’s lining and light sensors. read more about Grad Student Bodur Assisted with Super-K Upgrade »
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 »