Physics Colloquia

Join us for undergraduate research posters, food, drinks, and physics! CoorsTek lobby

Environmental Health & Safety Department Colorado School of Mines MANDATORY safety training for faculty, staff, postdocs, grad students, and undergraduates working in laboratories. All lectures held in CoorsTek 140 unless […]

Christina Willis ColdQuanta Abstract: Sustainability applied to networking is about treating professional support and assistance like a resource and creating more of it than you take. This workshop introduces how to use sustainable networking to create mutually beneficial professional relationships and to set and accomplish career goals. Through individual and group activities, participants will come away […]

Robert McLeod University of Colorado @ Boulder, Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering Abstract: Additive manufacturing of polymers is now an established technique in industries from athletic wear to orthodontics.  However, these methods are limited in further societal impact because each part requires hours of labor from trained technicians working in chemical handling facilities.  A recently […]

John Gamble IonQ Abstract: Quantum computing has the potential to revolutionize the way we solve many problems, ranging from analyzing chemical reactions to cryptography. However, building these machines in practice is an incredibly challenging engineering exercise, and many organizations are competing in the race toward practical quantum computers. In this talk, I'll introduce the core […]

Scott Diddams NIST, Optical Frequency Measurement Group & CU Boulder, Depts. of Electrical Engineering and Physics Abstract: The optical frequency comb is one of the most significant advances in laser science since the development of the laser itself. It is an essential component of all present and future optical clocks and time-transfer systems, as well […]

Grad students doing lightning talks: 3 talks at 12 minutes each!   All lectures in CoorsTek 140 unless otherwise noted

Brian Simonds NIST Abstract: Continuous-wave high-power lasers have evolved from bulky, inefficient tools with only niche applications to reliable photon appliances that have rapidly been adopted by industry. Accordingly, the metrology of these laser systems has also advanced. The Sources and Detectors group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) develops and maintains […]

Nuris Figueroa-Morales University of Colorado @ Boulder, Physics Department Abstract: Advancements in medicine and environmental remediation require investigation into bacterial transport and accumulation in confined geometries with the presence of flow. By looking at the dynamics of Escherichia coli bacteria in narrow microfluidic channels, we identify a phenomenon of upstream “super-contamination” of bacteria that depends on the […]

Kathryn R. Hamilton University of Colorado at Denver Abstract: Since their discovery in the late 1800’s, electrons have been a constant source of curiosity for scientists. Their properties and behavior have been studied and harnessed to produce some of the greatest inventions of the past century, including electron microscopes and particle accelerators. However one fundamental […]

Manuel A. Castellanos-Beltran NIST Abstract: Over the last two decades there has been tremendous interest in the advance of large-scale quantum computers. In particular, superconducting quantum processors has become the leading candidate for scalable quantum computing plat-form. Some of the initial research that paved the way for this field to take off was done at […]

Matt Beard National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Abstract: In this presentation I will discuss our studies of controlling the charge carrier dynamics, light/matter interactions, and spin populations in metal-halide organic/inorganic hybrid systems. Lower dimensional perovskites are of particular interest since the lower degree of symmetry of the metal-halide connected octahedra and the large spin-orbit coupling […]

Minghzhong Wu Colorado State University, Department of Physics Abstract: Dirac semimetals are a recently discovered topological phase of quantum matter. α-Sn is unique among the Dirac semimetals because it is a single-element material and is therefore relatively easy to grow. Further, it can be transformed into other topological phases, such as a topological insulator or […]

Hilary Hurst San José State University, Department of Physics & Astronomy Abstract: Superposition and entanglement are essential quantum properties which can be easily destroyed, rendering quantum devices useless. New modes of harnessing system-environment coupling can instead enable robust, entangled quantum phases and provide a route toward scalable quantum technologies. Weak measurement is one such route, […]

Kaveh Ahadi North Carolina State University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering Abstract: The intersection of emergent phenomena, e.g., ferroelectricity, magnetism, and superconductivity, is a fertile landscape for exotic quantum orders. In this presentation, I will talk about engineering these cooperative orders in complex oxides and chalcogenide thin films and heterostructures. I will present our […]

Andras Gyenis University of Colorado @ Boulder, Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering Abstract: Quantum-based electronics is a rapidly accelerating technology, where information is encoded in the quantum mechanical states of coupled natural or artificial atoms. To unlock the exceptional potential of quantum computers, one of the key challenges that the field has to overcome is […]

Davide Venturelli Universities Space Resource Association (USRA) Abstract: we discuss the field of quantum optimization and its near-term viability in gate model quantum processors. We will look at hardware efficient algorithm design and experimental results targeting problems with many qubits, and discuss how to benchmark solvers in search of quantum advantage. Bio: Davide Venturelli is […]

Emily Edwards Illinois Quantum Information Science & Technology Center (IQUIST) Abstract: Increasing public awareness and engagement with quantum-related topics in modern physics is of importance given the projected societal impact of the broader field of quantum information science and engineering. Yet there is an informational desert for many non-experts interested in learning about quantum mechanics. […]

Thomas Fix University of Strasbourg, ICube Labroratoy (CNRS) Abstract: This seminar will give an overview of three different topics currently investigated in the Materials for electronic and photovoltaic devices team (MaCEPV) of ICube laboratory. Downshifting and downconversion for solar cells Downshifting and downconversion are advanced concepts for solar cells enabling a better match between the […]

Tim Sweitzer Colorado School of Mines, Environmental Health & Safety All lectures in Hill Hall 202 unless otherwise specified

Lawrence Wiencke Colorado School of Mines, Physics Department Abstract: Ultra-high energy cosmic rays are the highest energy subatomic particles known to exist. Although much harder to detect, very high-energy neutrinos also carry information about the most extreme environments in the universe. And since they have zero charge, they point back to their creation point. The […]

Benjamin Jones University of Texas-Arlington, Physics Department Abstract: The goal of future neutrinoless double beta decay experiments is to establish whether neutrino is its own antiparticle, by searching for an ultra-rare decay process with a half life that may be more than 10^28 years.  Such a discovery would have major implications for cosmology and particle […]

David Moore Yale University, Department of Physics Abstract: The development of optomechanical systems has revolutionized the detection of tiny forces over the past few decades. As such technologies reach (and surpass) quantum measurement limits, they can enable new searches for weakly coupled phenomena, including dark matter, gravitational waves, "fifth’’ forces, and sterile neutrinos. As a […]

Dylan Yost Colorado State University, Department of Physics Abstract: Because of atomic hydrogen’s simplicity, its energy levels can be precisely described by theory. This has made hydrogen an important atom in the development of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics (QED). While one can use hydrogen spectroscopy to determine the Rydberg constant and the proton charge […]

Mark Siemens University of Denver, Department of Physics & Astronomy Abstract: Entangled photons are a valuable resource for quantum logic, imaging, and information theory. While measuring entangled state amplitudes is relatively straightforward with coincidence-based correlation filters, the entangled state phases have received relatively little attention – despite the important role that phases play in defining […]

Raymond Ladbury NASA Abstract: Watching a part fail while radiation testing is not an uncommon experience.  However, when the previous testing on your part suggests that protons are too feebly ionizing to kill your part and it dies anyway…that will make you sit up and take notice!  And when your billion-dollar satellite is already flying […]

Ronald Fernando Garcia Ruiz Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics Abstract: A precise understanding of the interaction between the atomic nucleus and its bound electrons enables the exploration of physical phenomena across a wide range of energy scales. Atoms and molecules containing nuclei with extreme proton-to-neutron ratios can be artificially created to amplify and study […]

Tenio Popmintchev University of California, San Diego Abstract: Ultrafast imaging and spectroscopies using coherent EUV - X-ray light based on the nonlinear process of high harmonic generation are already addressing grand challenges in complex molecular systems, plasmas, and advanced nanomaterials. The exquisite quantum control of the attosecond dynamics of the rescattering electrons in this extreme […]

Giulia Mancini Universita di Pavia (Pavia, Italy), Department of Physics Abstract: Ultrafast scattering, spectroscopy and imaging are essential tools for understanding and quantifying the functionality of nanoscale systems in space and time domains. The past decades witnessed a revolution in ultrafast pulsed sources, from optical lasers to pulsed X-rays sources. In the X-ray regime, X-ray […]