• Research News

    Time Crystal Research Enters a New Phase

    Our world only exists thanks to the diverse properties of the many materials that make it up. The differences between all those materials result from more than just which atoms and molecules form them. A material’s properties also depend on how those basic building Read More
  • Research News

    Mysteriously Mundane Turbulence Revealed in 2D Superfluid

    Despite existing everywhere, the quantum world is a foreign place where many of the rules of daily life don’t apply. Quantum objects jump through solid walls; quantum entanglement connects the fates of particles no matter how far they are separated; and quantum objects may Read More
  • Research News

    A New Piece in the Matter–Antimatter Puzzle

    aOn March 24, 2025 at the annual Rencontres de Moriond conference taking place in La Thuile, Italy, the LHCb collaboration at CERN reported a new milestone in our understanding of the subtle yet profound differences between matter and antimatter. In its analysis of large Read More
  • Research News

    Researchers Play a Microscopic Game of Darts with Melted Gold

    Sometimes, what seems like a fantastical or improbable chain of events is just another day at the office for a physicist. In a recent experiment by University of Maryland researchers at the Laboratory for Physical Sciences, a scene played out that would be right Read More
  • Research News

    IceCube Search for Extremely High-energy Neutrinos Contributes to Understanding of Cosmic Rays

    Neutrinos are chargeless, weakly interacting particles that are able to travel undeflected through the cosmos. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole searches for the sources of these astrophysical neutrinos in order to understand the origin of high-energy particles called cosmic rays and, Read More
  • Research News

    Twisted Light Gives Electrons a Spinning Kick

    It’s hard to tell when you’re catching some rays at the beach, but light packs a punch. Not only does a beam of light carry energy, it can also carry momentum. This includes linear momentum, which is what makes a speeding train hard to Read More
  • Research News

    Repurposing Qubit Tech to Explore Exotic Superconductivity

    Decades of quantum research are now being transformed into practical technologies, including the superconducting circuits that are being used in physics research and built into small quantum computers by companies like IBM and Google. The established knowledge and technical infrastructure are allowing researchers to harness quantum technologies in Read More
  • Research News

    New Design Packs Two Qubits into One Superconducting Junction

    Quantum computers are potentially revolutionary devices and the basis of a growing industry. However, their technology isn’t standardized yet, and researchers are still studying the physics behind the diverse ways to build these quantum devices. Even the most basic building blocks of a quantum Read More
  • Research News

    HAWC Finds High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emissions from Microquasar V4641 Sagittarii

    A new study in Nature, “Ultra-high-energy gamma-ray bubble around microquasar V4641 Sgr,"   has  revealed a groundbreaking discovery by researchers from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory:  TeV gamma-ray emissions from V4641 Sagittarii (V4641 Sgr), a binary system composed of a black hole and a main sequence Read More
  • 1 Time Crystal Research Enters a New Phase
  • 2 Mysteriously Mundane Turbulence Revealed in 2D Superfluid
  • 3 A New Piece in the Matter–Antimatter Puzzle
  • 4 Researchers Play a Microscopic Game of Darts with Melted Gold
  • 5 IceCube Search for Extremely High-energy Neutrinos Contributes to Understanding of Cosmic Rays
  • 6 Twisted Light Gives Electrons a Spinning Kick
  • 7 Repurposing Qubit Tech to Explore Exotic Superconductivity
  • 8 New Design Packs Two Qubits into One Superconducting Junction
  • 9 HAWC Finds High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emissions from Microquasar V4641 Sagittarii

Physics is Phun

Department News

  • World Quantum Day "Capital of Quantum" illustration by Valerie Morgan Happy Quantum Day! If that’s a salutation you’re unfamiliar with, this might not be the last time you encounter it. Celebrated every April 14, World Quantum Day seeks to boost understanding and appreciation of quantum science and technology. Read More
  • Breakthrough Prize Awarded to CERN Experiments On April 5, 2025, the CMS, LHCb, ALICE and ATLAS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN were honored with the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. The prize is awarded to the four collaborations, which unite thousands of researchers from more than 70 countries, and concerns Read More
  • Moille Awarded Distinguished Research Scientist Prize Associate Research Scientist Grégory Moille has received the Distinguished Research Scientist Prize from the College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland. The award comes with a $5,000 prize and celebrates his research excellence.  “I'm deeply honored and grateful for this recognition,” Read More
  • Sclafani Cited for Dissertation Work Post-doctoral Associate Stephen Sclafani has been selected for the American Physical Society’s Ceclia Payne-Gaposchkin Doctoral Dissertation Award, which recognizes doctoral thesis research in astrophysics and encourages effective written and oral presentation of research results.    Sclafani was cited for performing the first observation of diffuse high-energy neutrinos from Read More
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Upcoming Events

5 May
JQI Seminar - Michael Knap
Date Mon, May 5, 2025 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
5 May
EPT Seminar - Marius Kongsore, NYU
Mon, May 5, 2025 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
5 May
Biophysics Seminar: Evan Hart
Mon, May 5, 2025 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
6 May
QuICS Special Seminar: Michael Knap
Tue, May 6, 2025 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
7 May
HEP seminar
Wed, May 7, 2025 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
8 May
RQS Seminar
Thu, May 8, 2025 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
8 May
Geometry and Physics RIT
Thu, May 8, 2025 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
9 May
Friday Quantum Seminar: Beini Gao
Fri, May 9, 2025 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
12 May
JQI Seminar - Shimon Kolkowitz
Mon, May 12, 2025 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Exploring the Physics of Graphene with Local Probes

Joseph A. Stroscio, Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology - NIST
December 6, 2011

The recent ability to isolate and study the single atomic sheet of graphene has created a great deal of excitement in the scienctific community. Graphene is composed entirely of exposed surface atoms, which offers a unique opportunity to examine a 2-dimensional electron system with local probe measurements. In this talk I will describe our studies using scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) to examine interactions and disorder in various graphenes produced by different methods with varying degrees of disorder. Electron interactions are observed in tunneling spectroscopy measurements in high mobility graphene produced by thermal decomposition of SiC [1]. In these graphene samples Landau level (LL) degeneracies are lifted with energy scales that vary as function of magnetic field and filling factor. Additionally, enhanced energy splittings are measured when LL sublevels are emptied or filled as they cross the Fermi level. Using a back-gated exfoliated graphene device on SiO2 we observe a Landau level spectrum and charging resonances [2,3] that are completely different from the above STS measurements on weak disorder graphene systems. Applying a gating potential allows us to obtain “STS gate maps”, which allow a detailed examination of the transitions from compressible to incompressible electron systems.

[1] High Resolution Tunneling Spectroscopy of a Graphene Quartet, Y. Jae Song, A. F. Otte, Y. Kuk, Y. Hu, D. B. Torrance, P. N. First, W. A. de Heer, H. Min, S. Adam, M. D. Stiles, A. H. MacDonald, and J. A. Stroscio, Nature 467, 185 (2010).

[2] Evolution of Microscopic Localization in Graphene in a Magnetic Field: From Scattering Resonances to Quantum Dots, S. Jung, G. M. Rutter, N. N. Klimov, D. B. Newell, I. Calizo, A. R. Hight-Walker, N. B. Zhitenev, and J. A. Stroscio, Nature Physics 7, 245 (2011).

[3] Microscopic Polarization in Bilayer Graphene, Gregory M. Rutter, Suyong Jung, Nikolai N. Klimov, David B. Newell, Nikolai B. Zhitenev, and Joseph A. Stroscio, Nature Physics 7, 649 (2011).

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Colloquia are held Tuesdays in Room 1410 at 4:00 pm (preceded by light refreshments at 3:30). If you have additional questions, please call 301-405-5946.

The Search for New Physics: The Era of Precision Measurements

Hassan Jawahery, University of Maryland
November 29, 2011

A new era in particle physics has begun with the main focus of the field now turned to the discovery of physics beyond the Standard Model. While, the Standard Model has, thus far, passed all tests to very high accuracy, there are many indications that it is an incomplete theory. Direct searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model, in the form of new types of elementary particles and interactions, are underway at experiments at the CERN LHC collider. The reach of these searches is in the multi-TeV energy scale that is currently reachable at the LHC. Another powerful approach, historically responsible for some of the major discoveries in the field, is the indirect detection of the imprints of New Physics through virtual quantum effects. Precision measurements of such processes can provide complementary information on possible New Physics signatures that may emerge at the LHC, but also provide a window into physics at energy scales far exceeding those available to the direct searches. On the experimental front, the measurements of these rare processes often require particle collisions at extremely high intensity. In this talk, I will describe the prospects for indirect searches for new physics and new sources of CP violation by using the bottom quark as a probe. I will also describe some of the key experimental breakthroughs that have made it possible to design and develop a very high luminosity electron-positron collider that allows for precision measurements of New Physics effects in the decays of particles containing the bottom quark.

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Colloquia are held Tuesdays in Room 1410 at 4:00 pm (preceded by light refreshments at 3:30). If you have additional questions, please call 301-405-5946.

Lighting the Way to Fusion Energy with Intense Lasers

Richard Freeman, Ohio State University
November 8, 2011

Caught between increasing evidence of rapid warming and ever more difficult carbon-based resource extraction, those who aren't in a state of pseudo-science denial are desperately looking for a sustainable path forward. While the public's current attention is on so-called renewables (wind, bio, solar), not only is our record of sustained investment in these technologies remarkably inconsistent, there is a strong case to be made that renewables can't be scaled up in any practical manner to become the "green" energy source for the world by 2100. This leaves nuclear fission as the technologist's choice, but since the US, Russian and now Japanese accidents, there is no political will to invest here either. By a process of elimination, we are left with fusion. Fusion Energy, the solution to the world's energy needs, is the promised source "20 years in future", and has been so described since the 1950s. As physicists, we have been guilty of far too little humility concerning the degree of difficulty surrounding the physics fundamentals of fusion. Magnetic confinement technologies have proven far more expensive and intractable than anyone imagined 20 years ago: now the nation has invested in the National Ignition Facility (NIF), a $5B inertial confinement, laser-driven fusion energy device. It's purpose is to show "the way" in a demonstration of break-even fusion ignition, scheduled for this year. As this talk will make clear, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Mother Nature evidently didn't receive the memo on what she was supposed to do. Yes, NIF may be in trouble, and with this trouble the nations last sustained research program in alternative energies may fall victim to the impending budge-cutting mayhem being proffered in D.C. On the other hand, the nation's investment in the science of High Energy Density Physics, the study of materials at the extremes of density and temperatures, has yielded a set of remarkable results, and a new physics field full of large promises.

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Colloquia are held Tuesdays in Room 1410 at 4:00 pm (preceded by light refreshments at 3:30). If you have additional questions, please call 301-405-5946.

Solving the Energy Crisis Without Coal and Nuclear Reactors

Arjun Makhijani, Inst. for Energy and Environmental Research
November 1, 2011

A fully renewable, reliable, and efficient energy system in the United States is technically and economically feasible. The transition can be completed in about in about 30 years. Nuclear power is neither needed nor desirable to go to a zero-CO2 emissions economy. The issues relating to intermittency of solar and wind can be overcome with available technology and the rapidly developing set of technologies and concepts that go under the smart grid rubric.

Two resources:

http://www.ieer.org/carbonfree/CarbonFreeNuclearFree.pdf published in 2007 and an update in the form of a legal declaration www.ieer.org published in 2011.

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Colloquia are held Tuesdays in Room 1410 at 4:00 pm (preceded by light refreshments at 3:30). If you have additional questions, please call 301-405-5946.

Why are Neutrinos so Light? Early Results from the EXO Double Beta Decay Experiment

Carter Hall, University of Maryland
October 11, 2011

Neutrinos are perhaps the most mysterious and intriguing fundamental particles known to exist in nature. It took 40 years to determine that they have tiny, non-zero masses, and even today neutrino mass properties can only be inferred indirectly through quantum mechanical interference effects. So why should nature give us a particle which is so extraordinarily light, and yet not exactly massless? Our best hope to unravel this puzzle is to address a closely related question: does the neutrino act as its own anti-particle? Unfortunately, there has been little direct experimental progress on these issues in the last ten years, but now several ambitious new experiments are promising to significantly advance the frontier in relatively short order. The first such experiment to come online is the EXO-200 experiment, which was designed, constructed, and operated by a collaboration which includes the University of Maryland. An order of magnitude larger than all previous efforts, EXO-200 has already made the first observation of the ultra-rare two-neutrino double beta decay of the Xenon-136 nucleus. The half-life of this decay, at 2.11x10^21 years, ranks it as the longest half-life ever directly observed in nature, and yet it was seen and accurately measured by EXO-200 with only six weeks of data. Due to this demonstrated and unprecedented sensitivity, we expect to shed some welcome light on the critical questions of neutrino mass in the near future.

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Colloquia are held Tuesdays in Room 1410 at 4:00 pm (preceded by light refreshments at 3:30). If you have additional questions, please call 301-405-5946.