RESEARCH

Research Overview

The Department of Physics houses twenty labs, a Center for the Irradiation of Materials, a NSF Center for Nonlinear Optics and Materials, a departmental library, a glass shop, a Learning Resource Center, a graduate student office to house 23 graduate students, and a machine shop.

Research Topics

•  Crystal growth from solution, melt, vapor for IR, NLO, and photorefractive materials
•  Growth of IR window materials, SHG materials, and IR detector materials
•  Investigation of polymeric carbon and carbide ware
•  Materials characterization by techniques like, SEM, EPR, RBS, optical and electrical methods, etc.
•  Surface diffusion studies
•  Surface modification studies using Ion implantation
•  Crystal growth modeling
•  Nonlinear optics in organic and photorefractive materials, and nonlinear fiber optics
• Upconversion lasers
•  Real-time interferometry in photorefractive materials
•  Integrated optics in thin films of polymeric and organic materials
•  Optical phase conjugation in photorefractive materials
•  Study of optical surfaces and lenses
•  Squeezed states: Applications in optical communication
•  Quantum computing
•  Research on optical fiber sensors
•  Optical hole burning
•  Optical computing, optical and optically assisted neural network
•  Planetary and space physics

Major Equipment

Groups

Alliances, Centers and Collaborations