Research
Research Presentations
The Department of Physics begins seminar offerings with an annual poster session where faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students show off their research work. This is meant to give students an overview of the kind of research that is happening, and also entice them to join one of the research projects.
The department has put together a Canvas site where students can view the posters or brief videos.
Please reach out to the poster presenter for more information or if you are interested in joining a research project.
Astrophysics
The Astrophysics group at Miami is pursuing research programs at the undergraduate levels in theoretical astrophysics using numerical simulations with gravitational N-body codes.
Theoretical: Dr. Steve Alexander
Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
AMO physics groups at Miami are working on implementation of quantum noise-enabled cold atom nano-ratchets in optical lattices to simulate biomolecular motors; studying the light-matter interaction at the atomic and molecular level in order to explore critical scientific questions using state-of-the art lasers, along with various spectroscopic techniques such as laser spectroscopy, time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy, quantum-beat spectroscopy, quantum optics and laser induced fluorescence; and studying Bose-Einstein condensation of dilute alkali gases, dynamics of quantum vortices in BECs and superfluidity, atom trapping with painted potentials.
Experimental: Dr. Samir Bali, Dr. Burçin Bayram, Dr. E. Carlo Samson
Biophysics and Soft Condensed Matter Physics
Researches in the Biological and Soft CM Physics groups at Miami develop techniques to study, model and understand complex materials such as living biological systems and nano-materials using physics-based approaches with an emphasis on optical sensing. Active areas of research include fluorescence-based metabolic monitoring, microscopy imaging of living cellular systems, modeling impact of high pressure on biomolecules and cellular physiology, developing methods for quantitative sensing in scattering turbid materials using computational, theoretical and experimental approaches.
Experimental: Dr. Paul Urayama, Dr. Karthik Vishwanath
Theoretical/Computational: Dr. Karthik Vishwanath
Computational Physics
The Computational physics group at Miami is pursuing research program at the undergraduate and Master’s levels in scientific visualization, image processing and analysis, and the use of computer graphics and animation to enhance comprehension of physical phenomena.
Theoretical: Dr. Imran Mirza
Condensed Matter Physics
The Condensed Matter Physics groups at Miami are pursuing experimental research programs at the undergraduate and master’s levels in fabrication and optical characterization of nanoscale materials and devices using a variety of methods including sputter epitaxy, electron beam lithography and photolithography, magnetoresistance in nanodevices at cryogenic temperatures, nanoscale magneto dynamics in reduced dimensional systems, angular correlation spectroscopy of ceramic materials, electronic and thermal properties of novel solid state materials, electron and magnatic scanned probe microscopies, and vibrational tunneling spectroscopy.
- Magnetic materials
- Topological materials
- Skyrmions
- Weyl Semimetals & Insulators
Experimental: Dr. Mahmud Khan, Dr. Perry Corbett
Physics Education
The Physics Education groups at Miami are pursuing research programs at the undergraduate and master’s levels in the development of effective strategies for teaching scientific reasoning and problem-solving skills in introductory physics classes, physics education at the elementary school level, K-12 science education and teacher preparation.
Quantum Optics & Quantum Information
The Macklin Quantum Information Sciences (MQuIS) group at Miami pursues research programs at the undergraduate and master’s levels in quantum coherence studies using Bose-Einstein condensates, quantum information storage in atomic vapor using electromagnetically induced transparency and twisted light, cavity QED, theoretical and computational modeling of light and matter for generating nonclassical or entangled states of light and atoms; applications include quantum teleportation, quantum error correction, quantum key distribution and general quantum algorithms. Relativistic quantum information theory. Affiliate of Southwestern Quantum Information and Technology (SQuInT) network, an internationally renowned network of universities, national laboratories, and industry.
Theoretical: Dr. Imran Mirza
Experimental: Dr. Samir Bali, Dr. E. Carlo Samson