Elizabeth Beise Named University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar-Teacher

Elizabeth Beise, Professor of Physics and Associate Provost for Academic Planning and Programs, has been named a University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar-Teacher.

An internationally-recognized expert in experimental nuclear physics, Dr. Beise researches the fundamental, underlying properties of neutrons and protons, the constituents of the nuclei in atoms.  She has led experiments in electron scattering at the MIT-Bates accelerator and at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) in Newport News, Virginia.  At JLab, scientists use high-current beams of electrons to probe the structure neutrons and protons, to try to understand the origin their charge, spin, and magnetic moment, the latter being fundamental to such widely-used technology as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). 

Seminar Announcement

The Department of Physics will hold a special seminar by Professor Keivan Stassun on Friday, January 27, at 4p.m. in the Physics Room 1410.

Dr. Stassun, Vanderbilt University, is a leading expert and innovator in broadening participation in STEM fields. The talk is entitled, Increasing Diversity in the Physical Sciences: Lessons from the Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge Program for Partnering with Historically Black Universities.

Please see flyer for more information.

5 UMD Physics Faculty Named AAAS Fellows

Daniel Lathrop, John Mather, Steve Rolston, Raman Sundrum and John Weeks have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as a Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

This year 539 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a rosette pin on Saturday, 18 February at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

Introducing the Phoniton: a tool for controlling sound at the quantum level

Researchers now have the ability to construct increasingly complex artificial quantum systems, with profound implications for science and technology. Researchers at the University of Maryland and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences explore the possibility of a new, man-made, quantum object: a hybridization of a localized, long-lived phonon (a quantum of sound) and a matter excitation. That this is possible is not obvious. Analogous to the case of cavity-QED where a photon can strongly couple with a matter excitation and become a polariton (a half-light, half-matter quasiparticle), here a phonon in a crystal plays the part of the photon.

Presented in the December 2nd issue of Physical Review Letters ("Sound-based analogue of cavity quantum electrodynamics"), Soykal et al. show that similar hybrid objects based on sound and matter, dubbed "phonitons", are possible as well. 

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