Plasma physics and fusion energy.  In experimental plasma physics, research is being conducted on:

Equilibrium, stability, and transport in fusion plasmas: high-beta tokamaks, spherical tokamaks, and levitated dipoles

Magnetospheric physics: trapped particle instabilities and stochastic particle motion

Confinement of toroidal nonneutral plasmas

Plasma source operation and heating techniques

Development of new plasma measurement techniques

The results from our fusion science experiments are used as a basis for collaboration with large national and international experiments. For example, our recent demonstration of active feedback control of high-temperature plasma instability is guiding research on NSTX at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, on the DIII-D tokamak at General Atomics, and for the design of the next generation burning plasma experiment, ITER. In theoretical plasma physics, research is conducted in the fluid theory of plasma equilibrium and stability, active control of MHD instabilities, the kinetic theory of transport, and the development of techniques based on the theory of general coordinates and dynamical systems. The work is applied to magnetic fusion, non-neutral and space plasmas.

Advanced fusion confinement

MHD stability

Plasma diagnostics

Space plasmas

Transport in planetary magnetospheres

Plasma processing of semiconductors

 Optical and laser physics. Active areas of research include inelastic light scattering in nanomaterials, the free-electron laser, accelerators, optical diagnostics of film processing, new laser systems, nonlinear optics, ultrafast optoelectronics, photonic switching, optical physics of surfaces, laser-induced crystallization, and photon integrated circuits.

Nonlinear optics

Free electron lasers/accelerators

Laser diagnostics/processing

Laser interactions with matter

Ultrafast optoelectronics

Photon integrated circuits

Solid-state physics. Research in solid-state physics covers nanoscience and nanoparticles, electronic transport and inelastic light scattering in low-dimensional correlated electron systems, fractional quantum Hall effect, heterostructure physics and applications, molecular beam epitaxy, grain boundaries and interfaces, nucleation in thin films, molecular electronics, nanostructure analysis and electronic structure calculation. Research opportunities also exist within the interdisciplinary NSF Materials Research Science and

EngineeringCenter, which focuses on complex films composed of nanocrystals, and the NSF Nanoscale Science and EngineeringCenter, which focuses on electron transport in molecular nanostructures.

Low-dimensional electron systems

Nanocrystals and nanostructures

Surface photophysics

Semiconductor devices

Molecular beam epitaxy

Semiconductors at high pressures

Laser materials processing

Optical spectroscopy of solids

Quantum structures

 In the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, theoretical and experimental research is conducted by 31 full-time faculty members, 20 adjunct professors, and 64 research scientists. Areas of research include applied mathematics, earth/atmosphere/ocean/climate science, biomathematics, biophysics, numerical analysis, inverse problems, medical imaging, space physics, surface physics, condensed-matter physics, electromagnetism, materials science, nanoscience, medical physics, optical and laser physics, plasma physics, and fusion energy science.

William Bailey, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Stanford, 1999. Nanoscale magnetic films and heterostructures, materials issues in spin-polarized transport, materials engineering of magnetic dynamics.

Guillaume Bal, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Paris, 1997. Applied mathematics, partial differential equations with random coefficients, high-frequency waves in random media and application to time reversal, inverse problems and imaging with applications to medical imaging and geophysical imaging.

Simon J. L. Billinge, Professor; Ph.D., Pennsylvania, 1992. Nanoscale structure-property relationships in functional nanomaterials studied using novel X-ray and neutron scattering techniques coupled with advanced computing, solving the nanostructure problem.

Allen H. Boozer, Professor; Ph.D., Cornell, 1970. Plasma theory, theory of magnetic confinement for fusion energy, nonlinear dynamics.

Mark A. Cane, Professor (joint with Earth and Environmental Sciences); Ph.D., MIT, 1975. Climate dynamics, physical oceanography, geophysical fluid dynamics, computational fluid dynamics, impacts of climate on society, El Niño forecasting.

Siu-Wai Chan, Professor; Sc.D., MIT, 1985. Nanoparticles, electronic ceramics, grain boundaries and interfaces, oxide thin films.

C. K. Chu, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., NYU (Courant), 1959. Applied mathematics.

Matias Courdurier, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Washington (Seattle), 2007. Applied mathematics; inverse problems, with applications to medical imaging; X-ray transform with incomplete measurements and its applications to computerized tomography; radon transform.

Anthony Del Genio, Adjunct Professor (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies); Ph.D., UCLA, 1978. Dynamics of planetary atmospheres, parameterization of clouds and cumulus convection, climate change, general circulation.

Morton B. Friedman, Professor (joint with Civil Engineering); D.Sc., NYU, 1953. Applied mathematics and mechanics, numerical analysis, parallel computing.

Irving P. Herman, Professor; Ph.D., MIT, 1977. Nanocrystals, optical spectroscopy of nanostructured materials, laser diagnostics of thin-film processing, mechanical properties of nanomaterials.

James Im, Professor; Ph.D., MIT, 1985. Laser-induced crystallization of thin films, phase transformations and nucleation in condensed systems.

David E. Keyes, Professor; Ph.D., Harvard, 1984. Applied and computational mathematics for PDEs, computational science, parallel numerical algorithms, parallel performance analysis, PDE-constrained optimization.

Chris A. Marianetti, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., MIT, 2004. Predicting materials properties from first-principles computations, density-functional theory, dynamical mean-field theory, transition-metal oxides, and actinides.

Thomas C. Marshall, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Illinois, 1960. Accelerator concepts, relativistic beams and radiation, free-electron lasers.

Michael E. Mauel, Professor; Sc.D., MIT, 1983. Plasma physics, waves and instabilities, fusion and equilibrium control, space physics, plasma processing, international energy policy.

Gerald A. Navratil, Professor; Ph.D., Wisconsin–Madison, 1976. Plasma physics, plasma diagnostics, fusion energy science.

Gertrude Neumark, Professor; Ph.D., Columbia, 1979. Materials science and physics of semiconductors, with emphasis on optical and electrical properties of wide-bandgap semiconductors and their light-emitting devices.

I. Cevdet Noyan, Professor; Ph.D., Northwestern, 1984. Characterization and modeling of mechanical and micromechanical deformation, residual stress analysis and nondestructive testing, X-ray and neutron diffraction, microdiffrication analysis.

Richard M. Osgood, Professor (joint with Electrical Engineering); Ph.D., MIT, 1973. Nanoscale optical and electronic phenomena (experimental and computational), femtosecond lasers and laser probing, low-dimensional physics, integrated optics, nanofabrication and materials growth.

Thomas S. Pedersen, Associate Professor; Ph.D., MIT, 2000. Plasma physics, magnetic confinement, fusion energy, nonneutral plasmas, positron-electron plasmas, plasma turbulence.

Aron Pinczuk, Professor; Ph.D., Pennsylvania, 1969. Spectroscopy of semiconductors and insulators, quantum structures, systems of reduced dimensions, atomic layers of graphene, electron quantum fluids.

Lorenzo M. Polvani, Professor; Ph.D., MIT, 1988. Atmospheric and climate dynamics, geophysical fluid dynamics, numerical methods for weather and climate modeling, planetary atmospheres.

Malvin A. Ruderman, Professor (joint with Physics); Ph.D., Caltech, 1951. Theoretical astrophysics, neutron stars, pulsars, early universe, cosmic gamma rays.

Christopher H. Scholz, Professor (joint with Earth and Environmental Sciences); Ph.D., MIT, 1967. Experimental and theoretical rock mechanics, especially friction, fracture, and hydraulic transport properties; nonlinear systems; mechanics of earthquakes and faulting.

Amiya K. Sen, Professor (joint with Electrical Engineering); Ph.D., Columbia, 1963. Plasma physics, fluctuations and anomalous transport in plasmas, control of plasma instabilities, plasma transport.

Adam Sobel, Associate Professor; Ph.D., MIT, 1998. Atmospheric science, geophysical fluid dynamics, tropical meteorology, climate dynamics.

Marc Spiegelman, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Cambridge, 1989. Coupled fluid/solid mechanics, reactive fluid flow, solid earth and magma dynamics, scientific computation/modeling.

Horst Stormer, Professor; Ph.D., Stuttgart, 1977. Semiconductors, electronic transport, lower-dimensional physics, transport in nanostructures.

Latha Venkataraman, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Harvard, 1999. Single-molecule transport, single-molecule-force spectroscopy, electron transport in nanowires, scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy.

Wen I. Wang, Professor (joint with Electrical Engineering); Ph.D., Cornell, 1981. Heterostructure devices and physics, materials properties, molecular-beam epitaxy.

Michael I. Weinstein, Professor; Ph.D., NYU (Courant), 1982. Applied mathematics; partial differential equations and analysis; waves in nonlinear, inhomogeneous, and random media; dynamical systems; multiscale phenomena; applications to nonlinear optics; mathematical physics; fluid dynamics; geosciences.

Chris H. Wiggins, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Princeton, 1998. Applied mathematics, mathematical biology, biopolymer dynamics, soft condensed matter, genetic networks and network inference, machine learning.

Cheng-Shie Wuu, Professor (Public Health, Environmental Health Sciences, and Applied Physics); Ph.D., Kansas, 1985. Microdosimetry, biophysical modeling, dosimetry of brachytherapy, gel dosimetry, second cancers induced by radiotherapy, medical physics. Selected Publications   

William Bailey

Low relaxation rate in epitaxial vanadium-doped ultrathin iron films. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98(10), 2007.

Weakly coupled motion of individual layers in ferromagnetic resonance. Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter 74(6):064409, 2006.

Dual-frequency ferromagnetic resonance. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 77(6), 2006.

Experimental separability of channeling GMR in Co/Cu/Co. Phys. Rev. B 72:012409, 2005.

Guillaume Bal

Accuracy of transport models for waves in random media. Wave Motion 43(7):561–78, 2006.

Ray transforms in hyperbolic geometry. J. Math. Pure Appl. 84(10):1362–92, 2005.

Time reversal and refocusing in random media. SIAM J. Appl. Math. 63(5):1475–98, 2003.

Radiative transport limit for the random Schroedinger equation. Nonlinearity 15:513–29, 2002.

Simon J. L. Billinge

The problem with determining atomic structure at the nanoscale. Science 316:561–5, 2007.

Ab initio determination of solid-state nanostructure. Nature 440:655–8, 2006.

Underneath the BraggPeaks: Structural Analysis of Complex Materials. Elsevier Science: Oxford, 2004.

Beyond crystallography: The study of disorder nanocrystallinity and crystallographically challenged materials. Chem. Commun. 7:749–60, 2004.

Allen H. Boozer

Perturbed plasma equilibria. Phys. Plasmas 13:102501, 2006.

Perturbation to the magnetic field strength. Phys. Plasmas 13:044501, 2006.

Density limit for electron plasmas confined by magnetic surfaces. Phys. Plasmas 12:104502, 2005.

Physics of magnetically confined plasmas. Rev. Modern Phys. 76:1071–141, 2004.

Mark A. Cane

The evolution of El Niño, past and future. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 104:1–10, 2005.

Closing of the Indonesian Seaway as a precursor to East African aridification around 3 to 4 million years ago. Nature 411:157–62, 2001.

Mapping tropical Pacific sea level: Data assimilation via a reduced state space Kalman filter. J. Geophys. Res. 101:22,599–617, 1996.

Experimental forecasts of El Niño. Nature 322:827–32, 1986.

Siu-Wai Chan

Synthesis and redox behavior of nanocrystalline hausmannite. Chem. Mater. 19:5609–16, 2007.

Phase stability in ceria-zirconia binary oxide (1-x)CeO 2-xZrO 2 nanoparticles: The effect of Ce3+ concentration and the redox environment. J. Appl. Phys. 99:0843131–8, 2006.

Phases in ceria-zirconia binary oxide (1-x)CeO 2-xZrO 2 nanoparticles: The particle-size effect. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 89:1028–36, 2006.

Enthalpy and entropy of twin boundaries in superconducting YBa 2Cu 3O 7-x. J. Appl. Phys. 98:033908–16, 2005.

C. K. Chu

Domain decomposition for shallow water equations. In Contemporary Mathematics, Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Domain Decomposition Methods in Science and Engineering, October 1993.

Equilibrium response of ocean deep-water circulation to variations in Ekman pumping and deep-water sources. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 22:1129, 1992.

Lagrangian turbulence in Stokes flow. Phys. Fluids 30:687, 1987.

Solitary waves generated by boundary motion. Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 36:495, 1983.

Anthony Del Genio

Will moist convection be stronger in a warmer climate? Geophys. Res. Lett. 34:L16703, 2007. doi:10.1029/2007GL030525.

Deep convective system evolution over Africa and the tropical Atlantic. J. Clim. 20:5041–60, 2007.

Saturn eddy momentum fluxes and convection: First estimates from Cassini images. Icarus 189:479–92, 2007.

The tropical atmospheric El Niño signal in satellite precipitation data and a global climate model. J. Clim. 20:3580–601, 2007.

Irving P. Herman

Viscoplastic and granular behavior in films of colloidal nanocrystals. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98:026103, 2007.

Physics of the Human Body. Berlin/Heidelberg/New York: Springer, 2007.

Raman microprobe analysis of elastic strain and fracture in electrophoretically deposited CdSe nanocrystal films. Nano Lett. 6:175–80, 2006.

Raman scattering in Hf xZr 1-xO 2 nanoparticles. Phys. Rev. B 71:115408, 2005.

James Im

Stochastic modeling of solid nucleation in supercooled liquids. Appl. Phys. Lett. 78:3454–6, 2001.

On determining the relevance of athermal nucleation in rapidly quenched liquids. Appl. Phys. Lett. 72:662, 1998.

Sequential lateral solidification of thin silicon films on SiO₂. Appl. Phys. Lett. 69:2864, 1996.

Phase transformation mechanisms involved in excimer laser crystallization of amorphous silicon films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 63:1969–71, 1993.

David E. Keyes

Implicit solvers for large-scale nonlinear problems. J. Phys. 46:433–42, 2006.

Jacobian-free Newton-Krylov methods: A survey of approaches and application. J. Comp. Phys. 193:357, 2004.

Editor: A Science-Based Case for Large-Scale Simulation. U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, 2003, http://www.pnl.gov/scales.

Chris A. Marianetti

Quasiparticle dispersion and heat capacity of Na0.3CoO2: A DMFT study. Phys. Rev. Lett. 99:246404, 2007.

Na induced correlations in the cobaltates. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98:176405, 2007.

Electronic structure calculations with dynamical mean-field theory. Rev. Mod. Phys. 78:865, 2006.

 QueltaNews from ColumbiaUniversity

By Vasil Sidorov on April 17, 2009 E-mail: sidorovvasil@gmail.com