Events Vertical

Quirky Quantum Physics lecture series - Martin Greven

Title: Superconductors!

When most metals are cooled to very low temperatures, their resistance to the flow of an electrical current decreases, but then at a critical temperature, the resistance abruptly becomes zero! A current can now flow in the metal without any external applied voltage – and we call this material a Superconductor, a phenomenon that can only be understood using Quantum Mechanics. While previously believed to only apply to ordinary metals, forty years ago it was discovered that certain ceramics could also become superconductors – at temperatures much higher than observed in ordinary metals! If superconductivity could be observed at room temperature – the world would suddenly become a very different place! Martin Greven is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy whose research involves experimental condensed matter physics, and in particular, the fabrication and study of novel superconducting materials.

More information

Quirky Quantum Physics lecture series - James Kakalios

Speaker: James Kakalios

Title: The Solid State

Here we are, in the 21st century, and yet we are still waiting for the jetpacks and flying cars that were promised in 1950s science fiction movies and 1960s comic books. Those movies and comic books thought that we would have a revolution in energy (needed to have a flying car), while what we got instead was a revolution in information. This information revolution was made possible by the development of semiconductor and solid state physics, which in turn was made possible by the discovery of Quantum Mechanics. James Kakalios is a Taylor Distinguished Professor and Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy. His experimental research ranges from the nano to the neuro, and he is active in outreach and public engagement. In this talk you'll learn how three "simple" ideas, developed 100 years ago, made solar cells, LEDs, transistors, lasers, glow-in-the-dark toys and MRIs possible.

More information

May Term & Summer Classes Start

If you're taking May Term or 13-week summer classes, Monday May 18th is the first day! Be sure to access your Canvas courses ahead of time and get any materials that you may need.

50-Year and Golden Medallion Society Reunion

For more information and to register, visit the:

50-Year Reunion website (Class of 1976)

Golden Medallion Society website (all other classes)

SPA Colloquium: Pierre Fayet, École normale supérieure (Paris)

Title: Supersymmetry, extra dimensions, Higgs bosons, dark photons, and all that...

Abstract: TBD

MXP poster session

Everyone is welcome! Please join us to learn about many exciting experiments MXP students did this year, with a side of pizza!

Below is the list with more information about our presenters and their projects.

Anika Bloomquist, Aksinya Kamenshikova - Cherenkov Radiation
Logan Ion, Alexander Lupu - Time of Flight of a Cosmic Ray Muon
Carter Nolan, Garett Rathsack - Electron Positron Pair Annihilation
Adam Jarski, Zachary Ray - Chaotic Pendulum
Simon Goss-Grubbs, Alex Janorschke - Mossbauer Spectroscopy
Eve Kaegebein, Luke Hillard - Quantized Conductance in Gold Wire
Wylie Simonen, Darshen - Meany Vortex Quantization
Mackenzie Steiner, Dhara Patel - Digital Holography
Josephine Nutting - High Temperature Superconductor
Stuti Kamath - Elastically and plastically deformed YPtBi
Rebecca Meyer - Plastic Deformation and Anisotropic Resistivity of Oxygen Vacancy Doped KTaO3
Abdigani Ahmed, Alana Schroden - Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
James Matthews - Rotation of a Simple Helicopter
Mikaylah Hanson - Quantum Transport Measurements in Josephson Junction Arrays
Ava Scroggins - Research and Clinical Implementation of DiMANI
Katelyn Lai, Winston Morgan - Kinetics of Bacterial Infection
Vishrut Chawla, Patrick Gundaker Sagnac - Interferometry with Nursery Rhymes
Benny Border - Ground Based Telescopic Spectroscopy
Liwen Tang, Manvel Abrahamyan - Magnetic Susceptibility of Liquids
Jack Tavakley - Graphite Gate Nanolithography Using Local Anodic Oxidation
Myles Koppelman - Analyzing Discrepancies in Line Tension Measurement Methods
Cole Handberg, Alexander Skogsberg - Hong-Ou-Mandel
Lillian Swenson, Valeria Araque - Vibrating Guitar String
Jack Geller, Maxwell Leach - Spatial Light Modulation
William Bain, Finn Ellett - Shape of a water droplet
Abdulrahman Baobaid, Daniel Tiemens - Young's Double Slit and Quantum Eraser

SPA Colloquium: Sal Pace (MIT/Princeton IAS)

Title: When symmetry does the unexpected

Abstract: Symmetry is one of the central organizing principles of theoretical physics. It gives conservation laws, explains degeneracies, and characterizes many phases of matter through spontaneous symmetry breaking. In quantum systems, symmetry can do something even more surprising: it can enforce nontrivial entanglement and forbid an apparently ordinary, featureless phase from existing at all. In this colloquium, starting from the Lieb–Schultz–Mattis theorem and the modern notation of ’t Hooft anomalies, we will survey this unexpected power of symmetry and its consequences for quantum phases of matter and quantum field theory.

SPA Scholarship, Fellowship, and Awards Ceremony

Group photo session for recipients at 2:45 p.m. in the atrium outside B50.

Nier Lecture - John Eiler (Caltech)

Mark your calendars for the annual A.O.C. Nier Lecture hosted by the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences and the School of Physics and Astronomy. This year’s Nier Lecturer is John Eiler, Robert P. Sharp Professor of Geology and Geochemistry, and Ted and Ginger Jenkins Leadership Chair of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Caltech.

The Speaker: John is a renowned isotope geochemist and particularly well-known for his development of the so-called "clumped isotopes", which have become important tools for estimating temperatures - either in dinosaur bodies or solar system processes. More recent work of his group has focused on developing new mass spec techniques and theoretic framework to understand site-specific isotope information of organic molecules in the galaxy.

John is the Chair of Caltech's Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.