The National Academy of Sciences has selected Neal F. Lane to receive the Public Welfare Medal, The Academy's Highest Honor
The National Academy of Sciences has selected Neal F. Lane to receive its most prestigious award, the Public Welfare Medal. Established in 1914, the medal is presented annually to honor extraordinary use of science for public good. The Academy chose Lane for serving the scientific community in many executive and leadership roles and for his continuing efforts to advance and promote science and technology in the United States.
Physics and Astronomy Professor named Top 20 Scientist Under 40
Professor Doug Natelson has been named one of the Top 20 Scientists in the Nation under The age of 40. His name along with the other top scientists appears in the article "Best Brains In Science" in the December issue of Discover Magazine, which hit newstands today.
Physics Graduate Student's image published in Physical Review A
Graduate student, Jeffrey Mestayer's "Kaleidoscope" image has been published as part of "PRA Kaleidoscope Images: October 2008" in the Physical Review A. Click Here to see images, click on the fourth image on the top line to see the article.
Peggy Whitson rocks 2008 Sally Ride Festival
The Sally Ride Festival, held October 18 for the 3rd year on the Rice campus, was again a super-sellout with 1200 middle school girls plus over 300 adults. The day began with a street fair with exhibits, activities, a solar telescope and a Discovery Dome. Then Rice alumni and former ISS Commander Peggy Whitson gave a stimulating talk to the assembled girls. The girls then went to their choice of two of the 38 women-led workshops. One of the highlights was the launch of a ozone-measuring weather balloon at the end of the event. Sponsors of the 2008 Sally Ride Festival include Rice Space Institute, Baker Institute, Dean of Natural Sciences, Dean of Engineering, and MMS. Corporate Sponsors included Deloitte and Conoco-Phillips.
The Board of Trustees names the new Physics & Astronomy building
The Board of Trustees officially names the new Physics building, The Brockman Hall for Physics. The 110,000 squar foot building is set to house the Physics and Astronomy faculty as well as the "applied physics" faculty from ECE. The projected opening date is Fall 2010.
Rice physicists prep for LHC startup
On September 10, 2008, scientists in Europe will flip the switch on the largest, most expensive scientific experiment in human history, and a group of Rice physicists and students are among the thousands of scientists who are helping make it happen.
In recognition of Gordon's many contributions to Rice and the Physics and Astronomy Department, a reception will be held on Friday, September 12, 2008, at the Farnsworth Pavilion from 4:30-6pm.
Rice physicists play role in new discovery from Fermilab's DZero experiment
Physicists from the DZero collaboration at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., this week announced the observation of a key pairing of subatomic particles called "Z bosons." The subatomic, force-carrying particles were produced at Fermilab's Tevatron particle accelerator. The multinational DZero collaboration consists of more than 600 scientists, including several from Rice's Bonner Nuclear Laboratory.
Click here for Rice News Article
Rice Scientists are recognized by the European Press
Work of Rice Scientists was picked up by the European Press in an article that appeared in the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung Science Section on July 16, 2008.
Click here for article
Rice approves construction of new Physics & Astronomy building
The board has approved construction of a new 110,000 square foot building, which will be located between George R. Brown Hall and Hamman Hall. This building is set to house the Physics and Astronomy faculty as well as the "applied physics" faculty from ECE. The projected opening date is Fall 2010.
2007-2008 Physics & Astronomy Student Awards
Every year the Department awards outstanding students for their achievements in Physics & Astronomy during their enrollment at Rice University. Here is the list of recipients for the 2007-2008 academic year.
Astrophysics Graduate Student to attend the 58th Nobel Prize Winners in Physics meeting in Lindau
Physics and Astronomy graduate student Zorawar Wadiasingh, studying neutron star astrophysics with Dr. Matthew Baring, has been awarded a place as a student partipicant at the prestigious 58th Meeting of Nobel Prize Winners in Physics, to be held in June 2008 in Lindau, Germany.
Physics Graduate Student earns Fellowship with JSA
Physics graduate student Paul Mattione has been awarded one of the 2008-2009 JSA/Jefferson Lab Graduate Fellowships for his research at the Jefferson Lab. The Fellowship includes a stipened of one-half of a 9-month academic year, to be matched in equal amount by Rice University, plus $2,000 stipened support. The Fellowship also includes an up to $2,000 travel allowance for research related travel.
Rice Alumni is elected to the National Academy of Engineering
Dr. Malcom R. O'Neill, received his PhD in Physics from Rice University in 1975. While he attended Rice University he worked with Dr. G. Walters King and Dr. F. Barry Dunning. After he graduated he joined the US Army where he rose to the ranks of Lietenant General. Once he retired from the US Army in 1996, he joined Lockheed Martin as Vice President, Mission Success, Operations and Best Practices in Space Systems.
Physics Graduate Student earns fellowship with JSA.
Physics graduate student Paul Mattione has been awarded one of the 2008-2009 JSA/Jefferson Lab Graduate Fellowships for his research at the Jefferson Lab. The Fellowship includes a stipened of one-half of a 9-month academic year, to be matched in equal amount by Rice University, plus $2,000 stipened support. Up to $2,000 travel allownace is available for research related travel.
Rice Scientist's blog gets recognized by Physics World magazine
Dr Doug Natelson's blog entitled "Nanoscale Views" was written about in the March issue of Physics World Magazine, Volume 21 Number 3.
How Does Random Order Destroy Superfluidity?
Materials, no matter how pure they may be or how carefully they are prepared, inevitably have some random disorder. This disorder can be caused by crystal defects, impurities, or anything that changes the landscape of how electrons move about in the material. Many years ago, P.W. Anderson from Princeton University suggested that with enough disorder, an electrical conductor can be transformed to an insulator due to localization of the electrons. Disorder can also induce an otherwise superconducting material to become insulating, with implications for important classes of superconductors, such as those made of thin films or small grains.
Many of the predicted effects in superconductors, such as those having to do with disorder, are difficult to observe and to quantify because of the complexity of actual materials. Scientists have recently turned to more idealized “stand-in” systems, comprised of gases of ultra-cold atoms, to model real materials. When the atoms are cooled to temperatures below 1 millionth of a degree above absolute zero, they form a Bose-Einstein condensate, which is a superfluid. A superfluid flows without impedance, in analogy to the electrons in a superconductor that flow without electrical resistance. But unlike real materials, the ultra-cold atom stand-ins are so extremely pure and controllable that they can be used as idealized realizations of theoretical models.
Disorder can be imposed on a Bose-Einstein condensate by using optical speckle. Speckle is produced by passing a laser beam through a diffusive piece of glass, such as one that has been sand blasted (see figure). The variation of the light amplitude across the condensate causes the atoms to experience a random potential, much like the effect of impurities on the electrons in a superconductor. Scientists at Rice University, lead by Randall Hulet, have used optical speckle to explore the disorder-induced transition from a superfluid to an insulator in a Bose-Einstein condensate of lithium atoms. The strength of the disorder was varied by adjusting the intensity of the laser beam. They found that the flow of the condensate was impeded when the energy scale of the disorder was comparable to the interaction energy of the condensate. Furthermore, by taking images of the atoms while still confined, the Rice group found that only small ripples in the condensate density appear at the onset of localization. It takes much greater disorder strength to completely fragment the condensate into small disconnected pieces. These observations have provided new insight into the nature of the disorder-induced transition that may have implications for the superconductor-insulator transition. In the future, the Rice group plans to reduce the interaction energy of the condensate in an attempt to view the elusive single-particle effect known as Anderson localization.
Y. P. Chen, J. Hitchcock, D. Dries, M. Junker, C. Welford, and R. G. Hulet, “Phase Coherence and Superfluid-Insulator Transition in a Disordered Bose-Einstein Condensate, arXiv:0710.5187, to be published in the Physical Review A.
Schematic showing the creation of a disordered optical potential using a diffusive plate. The plate is illuminated by a coherent laser beam. Random phases are imposed on the light beam and imaged onto the Bose-Einstein condensate using a lens. Multiple interference gives rise to an optical field with random amplitude in the plane of the condensate.
Who knew it would take nearly a century to create the Bohr atom?
The first successful model of the hydrogen atom was proposed by Danish physicist Niels Bohr almost a century ago and comprised an electron in classical circular "planet-like" orbit about the nucleus. With the advent of quantum mechanics it was realized that the position of an electron could not be precisely specified but rather it must be viewed as being distributed within the atom. However, for sufficiently large systems this microscopic quantum world should transition into the macroscopic classical world. Scientists at Rice University have taken advantage of this to produce the closest analog yet achieved to the Bohr model of the atom. This has been accomplished by manipulating atoms in highly excited Rydberg states using a carefully-tailored series of short electric field pulses. In Rydberg atoms one electron is excited to a high-lying state and is well removed from the nucleus. Indeed, such atoms are the true giants of the atomic world. Those investigated at Rice have diameters approaching a millimeter and, if opaque, would be visible to the naked eye. Starting with laser-excited quasi-one-dimensional Rydberg atoms the researchers have been able using electric field pulses to transfer the electron from its initial highly-elliptical orbit into a near circular orbit while at the same time localizing the electron within this orbit. Measurements show that the electron remains localized for several orbits and behaves much as a classical particle. This creation of the Bohr atom illustrates the power of atomic engineering using pulsed electric fields and has potential applications in studies of classical and quantum chaos, of information storage and processing in atoms, and of ultrafast laser-matter interactions.
Niels Bohr
Time evolution of the electron position distribution, Its motion around a near circuit oribit is cleary evident.
Campus Observatory Viewing
Faculty of the Rice University Department of Physics and Astronomy conduct free open houses for the general public monthly (weather permitting) at the on-campus observatory. Refer to the observatory website for lists of open houses.