News

PQI faculty Tevis Jacobs received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to observe and measure nanoscale contact inside of an electron microscope-enabling for the first time visualization of the atomic structure of the component materials while they are in contact. 

Technologically, nanoscale contacts are found both in advanced microelectronic devices, as well as in emerging nanoprobe-based technologies used to make those devices. By using a nanoprobe to make contact, device manufacturers can measure and manipulate behavior down to the atomic scale. Jacobs and his team will investigate the physics, chemistry, and materials science of nanoscale devices during contact.

Jeffry Madura and student Biran Adams created a software program which allows an individual to view molecular structures in three dimensions by looking through a specially-designed headset.

The project began last year when Madura noticed that there were not many affordable options for people to observe molecules in three dimensions. Madura reached out to the computer science professors and students to help design a solution, and Adams volunteered. According to Madura, Adams’ experience background in programming and algebra was perfect for the task. Madura and Adams developed the idea of using already-existing video game technology to create a virtual world of enlarged molecules. They used the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset originally funded through a Kickstarter campaign, and expanded its scope of use.

The Kaufman Foundation announced on Wednesday that it is awarding about $2 million through 10 grants to researchers at six universities. In the New Investigator Research category, a grant of $150,000 over two years was awarded to Theodore Corcovilos for research on “Experimental quantum emulation of two-dimensional topological insulators and Majorana fermions using ultra-cold atoms”.

To further his research in renewable energy catalysts, the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund recently awarded a Doctoral New Investigator Award to PQI faculty John A. Keith. The two-year, $110,000 grant, "Unraveling Heterocycle-Promoted Hydride Transfer Mechanisms for Energetically Efficient Fuel and Petrochemical Production" will enable Dr. Keith to study design principles for renewable energy catalysts that efficiently convert CO₂ into fuels and chemicals. 

A research team led by PQI faculty Jeremy Levy has discovered electrons that can "swing dance". This unique electronic behavior can potentially lead to new families of quantum devices.

Superconductors, materials that permit electrical current to flow without energy loss, form the basis for magnetic resonance imaging devices as well as emerging technologies such as quantum computers. At the heart of all superconductors is the bunching of electrons into pairs.

The work, done in collaboration with researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, was published May 14 in the journal Nature.

This month's APS Back Page features PQI faculty Chandralekha Singh who describes the Fifth International Conference on Women in Physics with participation from 49 countries around the world: 

In August 2014, I attended the 5th IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics (ICWIP 2014) in Waterloo, Canada as part of the U.S. delegation. The conference was attended by approximately 215 female physicists and a few male physicists, all from 49 different countries. There were research talks, panels, workshops, breakout sessions and posters on issues related to women in physics.

A breakthrough in the control of a type of particle known as the polariton has created a highly specialized form of rotation. 

PQI faculty Andrew Daley and David Snoke and their colleages at Princeton University conducted a test in which they were able to arrange the particles into a 'ring geometry' form in a solid-state environment. The result was a half-vortex in a 'quantized rotation' form.