Department of Physics & Astronomy
Welcome!
Our department is driven by an engaged faculty pursuing fundamental research and eager to develop the next generation of scientists.
Our physicists helped put our state on the periodic table, study multi-messenger astronomy and explosive stellar events, and search for new physics at CERN. They describe the properties of nuclei and neutrons and test the limits of superconductivity with new models and novel materials. They merge physics and biology at the cellular level with lab-on-a-chip devices. They’re building an interdisciplinary approach to lead transformative research on quantum materials and devices, information science, and artificial intelligence.
Our students have a breadth of research opportunities on campus, at nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and at facilities all over the world to set them on the path to promising careers.
Department News
Colloquium Schedule
Quantum Networking in a Noisy and Lossy World
October 21, 2024
Speaker: Gayane Vardoyan, UMass Amherst
Host: George Siopsis
Abstract
Quantum networks have the potential to support capabilities that are unachievable with classical means alone. Besides quantum cryptographic applications, quantum networks have a variety of scientific uses and can help scale up quantum computers. However, the realization of quantum networks faces formidable challenges which include noise that is inflicted upon quantum states, and loss that is suffered by photons which act as information carriers between distributed quantum information processors. In this talk, I will introduce some of the fundamentals of quantum communication, provide examples of noise and loss in quantum systems with real-world examples, and discuss some of the ways that can help us cope with these challenges. At the end of the talk, I will identify several topics that are of research interest to the quantum networks community.
PRX: What Kind of Papers We are Looking for?
October 28, 2024
Speaker: Yiming Xu, Physical Review X
Host: Haidong Zhou
Abstract
PRX is published by the American Physical Society, a nonprofit membership society of scientists. Its mission goal is to select around 250 *landmark* papers a year from all fields of physics and showcase them to a broad and multidisciplinary readership.
Is your paper a good match for PRX? Or asked differently, what papers qualify as *landmark* papers?
How do the PRX editors actually select such papers? Are such selections always accurate?
How can you, as an author, navigate PRX’s editorial and peer-review process effectively and get the most out of your interactions with the editors and referees?
I will use the talk to discuss with you how to answer these questions. Many of these questions do not have a black-and-white answer in the case of a single paper. Open-minded, reasoned, and constructive dialogues amongst the authors, the editors, and the referees are key to making each concrete process a meaningful and productive experience, and sometimes even a pleasure, for everyone.
Jianwei Qiu, Jefferson Lab
November 4, 2024
Speaker: Jianwei Qiu, Jefferson Lab
Host: Dien Nguyen
Abstract
TBA