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Department of Physics
University of Oregon

1999 Alumni Newsletter

Vol.7, No.1
April, 1999

CHAIRMAN'S CORNER

Dietrich Belitz

As the new head of the Physics Department, I had the pleasure of taking over a very well functioning department, thanks to the efforts of my predecessors, Dave Mc Daniels and N.G. Deshpande, over the last twelve years. Our research funding has continued to increase, and is now close to $ 6 million per year. In this issue we highlight ongoing research on turbulence in Professor Donnelly's laboratory as well as a new research institute, the Oregon Center for Optics. We have also continued to improve our teaching, by optimal use of the internet and other modern communication techniques, an effort that is spearheaded by Professor Bothun.

With respect to the University's funding situation there is also cause for cautious optimism. After suffering for many years from the effects of the property-tax cutting Measure 5 and its follow-up, Measure 47, the University has succeeded in persuading the Oregon University System to adopt a new fund distribution formula that will give the University of Oregon its fair share of state funds in relation to the number of students it is educating. While we will have to see how the new system works in practice, there is reason to believe that it will stabilize the University's finances after many years of cutbacks. However, we will have to continue to work hard on this front. The efforts of all of you to help in this matter, through donations as well as through raising the public and legislative awareness of the important role the University is playing for the state, are highly appreciated.

NEW FACULTY

The department has recruited five new faculty members in the past four years: John Toner (Professor, Condensed Matter Theory) and Hailin Wang (Assistant Professor, Optics) joined in 1995, Jim Schombert (Assistant Professor, Astronomy), Dean Livelybrooks (Instructor, Physics Education) in 1996, and Steve Hsu (Assistant Professor, Elementary Particle Theory) in 1997. These recruitments are part of an ongoing restructuring and rejuvenation effort as a number of our faculty members are retiring.

John Toner

Professor Toner's research interests range from studies of transport in disordered superconductors to models for the motion of flocks of birds. The unifying theme of this work is the study of long distance and long time properties of strongly fluctuating systems with many degrees of freedom. The three topics he is currently most actively studying are:

  1. Birds; or, the theory of flocking: The objective is to develop a theory of the collective motions of large swarms of organisms that attempt to follow their neighbors. The continuum equations of motion proposed are applicable to the motions of herds of wildebeest, schools of fish, flocks of birds, singular of rhinoceri, and swarms of bacteria.

  2. Tubules: a new phase of fluctuating tethered membranes. A tethered membrane is a thin sheet of elastic material (e.g., a piece of paper, a biological membrane, etc.) with free boundaries. It was conjectured nearly a decade ago that such membranes could undergo a "crumpling" transition with increasing temperature, from a low temperature flat phase to a high temperature crumpled phase. Professor Toner has recently been involved in demonstrating that when the membrane is anisotropic (e.g., harder to bend along one axis than another), an intermediate "tubule" phase always appears between the crumpled and flat phases. In this tubule phase, as the name suggests, the membrane is crumpled in one direction but extended in the other; i.e., it is shaped like a long, messy tube.

  3. Liquid crystals: Smectic A liquid crystals consist of a periodic stack of liquid (translationally disordered) layers; thus, they are liquid-like in two directions (within the layers) but solid-like in one (normal to the layers). This combination leads to huge fluctuations which have been the subject of a great deal of theoretical and experimental study over the past two decades. Professor Toner is currently studying two problems involving these systems.

    (a) Dynamically X-ray scattering. It has recently become experimentally feasible to perform time (or frequency) resolved X-ray scattering from smectics A. This makes possible the study of the dynamical evolution of the aforementioned large fluctuations. Toner uses hydrodynamic equations for smectics A to predict the results of these experiments, which are being performed by another UO physicist, Professor Stephen Kevan .

    (b) Smectics in disordered media: Attempts are made to predict the behavior of smectics A in aerogel, an experimental system that has been much studied recently.

Hailin Wang

Professor Wang is an experimental physicist whose research interest centers on optical properties of semiconductors. His laboratory uses optical microresonators to alter vacuum fluctuations seen by optical excitations in semiconductors, and to manipulate fundamental optical processes in semiconductor heterostructures such as quantum wells and quantum dots. He also employs nonlinear and ultrafast optical techniques to investigate dynamical processes in these heterostructures. An example of his current research efforts involves attaching a quantum dot to the surface of a ultra high-Q glass microsphere to realize a mesoscopic quantum system where coherent optical interactions between the quantum dot and the resonator mode dominate decoherence processes such as spontaneous emission and electron-phonon scattering. Potential applications of his research include low threshold microlasers and quantum logic devices.

James M. Schombert

Professor Schombert is an observational astronomer whose research centers around galaxy evolution and formation, as well as topics in cosmology. His recent efforts have involved the discovery, imaging and spectroscopy of low surface brightness galaxies, tracing color evolution of ellipticals and mapping new dwarf galaxies as a test of biased galaxy formation theory. In 1995, he discovered a new type of galaxy called a dwarf spiral. You can find his web page at zebu.uoregon.edu/~js/


Dean W. Livelybrooks

Dean Livelybrooks's research interests lie within three areas:

  1. Developing effective physics teaching labs which: a) build experiment design skills, b) instruct students on the proper use of computers and related data acqusition and analysis tools and, c) elucidate how the scientific method is used to develop and experimentally verify models of physical processes.

  2. Geophysically characterizing crustal processes that occur along active continental margins. Dr. Livelybrooks is particularly interested in using magnetotelluric measurements to characterize crustal conductivity structure near the San Andreas Fault and assess how conductivity might change owing to physical phenomenon that precede major earthquakes. Another research interest involves using ground-penetrating radar in conjunction with microstratigraphic trench studies to assess seismic hazards for the San Andreas Fault and related faults.

  3. Outreach programs aimed at supporting the active learning of science in local K-8 classrooms.

You can find Dr. Livelybrooks' web page at hendrix.uoregon.edu/~dlivelyb


Stephen D.H. Hsu

Professor Hsu is interested in applications of Quantum Field Theory (QFT) to problems which are either accessible to experimental tests in the foreseeable future, or help to illuminate qualitative features of physically motivated models. His interests in recent years include semiclassical methods in QFT, phase transitions in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and the electroweak theory, and low-energy dynamics of QCD and supersymmetric gauge theories. He is also interested in Cosmology and the very early universe. You find him on the web at duende.uoregon.edu/~hsu/


RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Cryogenic Helium Turbulence Laboratory

Professor Russell Donnelly's laboratory, the Cryogenic Helium Turbulence Laboratory, conducts studies of fluid mechanics in both classical fluids and in cryogenic helium (helium I, helium II, and supercritical helium gas). The main thrust of current research is an understanding of extremely high Reynolds number turbulence. Reynolds numbers are dimensionless fluid velocities and need to be high to model many phenomena in nature and in engineering in the laboratory under controlled conditions. The highest Reynolds numbers that can be generated in the laboratory use cryogenic helium, and this group is a pioneer in such applications. The National Science Foundation is supporting the construction and operation of a number of revolutionary devices on a budget of $ 5 Million. One is a one meter high thermal convection cell, using supercritical helium gas, which will generate the highest convective Reynolds numbers ever achieved in the laboratory. Other devices include a towed grid apparatus operating in helium II, a pipe flow apparatus using helium I and helium II, and circulating flow apparatus ("wind tunnel") which can use any cryogenic helium fluid. State of the art flow measuring devices are under development to maximize the use of these devices. These sensors need to be sub-micron in size. A long range goal of this effort is to establish a national cryogenic helium laboratory using the world's largest helium refrigerator at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York.

Research in this group is both experimental and theoretical, and features a regular series of important international conferences on the subject.

Oregon Center for Optics

The Oregon Center for Optics aims to promote and facilitate research and education in the sciences at the University of Oregon wherever optical science is involved in an essential fashion, in either its fundamental aspects or its technological applications. It promotes scientific interactions amongst the members of the Center and between the members and the wider academic and industrial optics communities. The Oregon Center for Optics was founded in 1997 as an outgrowth of a 1985 Centers-of-Excellence initiative of the Oregon Legislative Assembly to foster scientific activities that promote economic development.

The field of Optics is defined not by a specific set of physical phenomena, as are many fields in science, but rather by certain "enabling technologies," the most important one being the laser. Others include imaging, detection of light, data storage and processing, and modulation - the impression of information on a light beam. In a scientific context, these techniques are used for research in a wide range of disciplines. In engineering, they are used more and more to achieve a myriad of practical goals. Optics is an interdisciplinary field, bringing together scientists and engineers from many areas - physics, electrical engineering, chemistry, biology, medicine, and vision.

Forefront research and development is carried out at the Oregon Center for Optics in many areas, including:

You find the OCO web page at oco.uoregon.edu/

Templex Technology, Inc.

A significant technology transfer project was spawned by the research interests of Prof. Thomas Mossberg. Templex Technology Inc. was founded in an effort to bring a new generation of optical technology - TASMTM - to commercial reality. Temporally Accessed Spectral Multiplexing (TASM) is an enabling technology that allows intelligence to be encoded and processed entirely in the optical domain. The most immediate application of TASM technology is the implementation of optical Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) communications systems. CDMA optical communications provides for the multiplexing of multiple high bandwidth communication channels to achieve Terabit per second data rates over a single fiber. Alternatively, TASM enabled CDMA provides for the passive addressing of many users in a data distribution environment. Ultimately, TASM technology will provide for true intelligent decision making in the optical domain.

Templex currently controls four issued U.S. patents for the core technology. The control of these patents was transferred to Templex Technology Inc. via licensing agreements with the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, and Harvard University. Templex Technology is continuing to expand its intellectual property beyond these core patents, currently with nine additional U.S. and foreign patent applications.

Templex Technology's initial funding, in 1995, was received from the Oregon Research and Technology Development Fund. Additional research capital has been obtained through Phase I and Phase II contracts awarded under the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR). In 1997, Templex completed a venture capital round of financing, with Bison Ventures as lead investor, with a group of prominent U.S. based high technology investors.

Professor Mossberg currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer of the company and sits on the board of directors.

You can find more information at www.templex.com/

INTERDISCIPLINARY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

The Physics Department has joined forces with the Materials Science Institute and the Chemistry Department to offer an Industrial Internship Program in Semiconductor Processing leading to a Masters degree. Organized by the Materials Science Institute, the program offers students the opportunity to earn a masters degree in Physics or Chemistry while learning on the job. It combines classroom instruction and laboratory work with a six- to nine-month industrial internship. Students spend the summer in courses designed to give them a solid foundation in semiconductor processing, including hands-on chip fabrication in the laboratory. In the fall, students interview as interns with participating companies including Hewlett-Packard, Hyundai, Mitsubishi Silicon America, Planar and Intel. Most students intern as semiconductor process engineers and are responsible for finding solutions to IC manufacturing problems using their knowledge of physics and chemistry, while other students are engaged in applied research with regional companies. Students earn 30 credits and $2,000 to $3,000 a month for the internship portion of the program, which helps offset the cost of tuition.

In the summer of 1998, five UO physics and chemistry students took advantage of the new program. Twelve internship slots have been secured for the program's second year, starting in summer, 1999.

For more information, see materialscience.uoregon.edu/coop.htm

MASTERS DEGREE PROGRAM IN APPLIED PHYSICS PLANNED

The Physics Department is proposing to implement a new M.S. degree program in Applied Physics. This program is intended to establish a professional degree alternative to the research-based Ph.D. It is designed to serve physics students whose primary interests lie in applied research and development rather than in basic research. The program will also enhance the ability of our graduates to obtain good jobs in industry after graduation. An important component of this program will be industry sponsored internships. Such internships have met with much success in a recent pilot program conducted by the Materials Science Institute (see above). The proposed Masters program will be conducted in close coordination with the MSI's project. The program is designed such that it can be completed in about 1.5 calendar years.

For University of Oregon undergraduates, an additional incentive to apply to the program will be created through the initiation of a 5-year B.S/M.S program. This will enable these students to obtain the Applied Physics Masters degree by means of a time investment of one year in addition to their undergraduate education.

The proposal has recently been approved by the Graduate Council at the University of Oregon. It will now go to the University Senate and the University Curriculum Committee, and then to the State Board of Higher Education for final approval. If approved, the program will be advertised starting in Summer, 1999, and the first students will enroll in Fall, 2000.

More information can be found at zebu.uoregon.edu/applied/cas.html

FACULTY NEWS

Howard Carmichael was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1995, and won a Humboldt Research Award in 1997.

Bernd Crasemann, Professor Emeritus, has served as Editor of Physical Review A since 1993. He is a member of the American Institute of Physics Publications Board and recently was elected Vice Chair of the American Physical Society's Committee on International Scientific Affairs.

Russell Donnelly won the Lars Onsager Medal in 1996, received the Howard Vollum Award of Reed College in 1997, and was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (London) in 1997. He will receive an Honorary Doctorate from McMaster University in June, 1999.

Steve Kevan, together with Eli Rotenberg, was awarded the Shirley Prize at the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley in 1998, for the best scientific achievement at the facility in the previous year.

Brian Matthews received the Howard Vollum Award for Distinguished Accomplishments in Science and Technology from Reed College in 1994. He served as President of the Protein Society from 1995 to 1997, and he was appointed a University of Oregon Distinguished Professor (Inaugural Appointment) in 1996.

David Sokoloff received the American Association of Physics Teachers' 1997 Distinguished Service Citation.

Davison Soper was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

ALUMNI NEWS

Greg Bauer (Ph.D. 1994) is a Research Associate at the University of Illinois

Marianne Breinig (Ph.D. 1979) is on the Faculty of the University of Tennessee and conducts research in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Chih-Chiang Chen (Ph.D. 1998) is with EPS Inc. in Santa Clara, CA Corvallis, OR

Mau Hsiung Chen (Ph.D. 1972) is a Physicist in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a Fellow of the APS.

Thomas P. Devereaux (Ph.D. 1989) is an Assistant Professor of Physics at George Washington University

John M. Essick (Ph.D. 1988) is an Associate Professor at Reed College

Avgerinos Gelatos (Ph.D. 1987) is a Member of Technical Staff at Motorola, Austin, TX

Bo Hammer (Ph.D. 1991) is Acting Director of Student Services at the American Institute of Physics

Douglas R. Hofstadter (Ph.D. 1975) is College Professor of Computer Science and Cognitive Science and Director of the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition at Indiana University

John Hunt (Ph.D. 1967) is a member of the National Ignition Facility project at Lawrence Livermore National laboratory

Gene E Ice (Ph.D. 1977) holds a senior research position in the Materials and Ceramics Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Khondkar R Karim (Ph.D. 1983) is a faculty member in the Illinois State University, Normal, IL

Daewon Kwon (Ph.D. 1997) is a Research Associate at Ohio State University

Thomas M. Lean (Ph.D. 1992) is a Member of Technical Staff at Hewlett Packard, Corvallis, OR

Hao Lee (Ph.D. 1998), is a postdoc at the University of California at Santa Barbara

Jon Levin (Ph.D. 1986) is an Associate Professor in the University of Tennessee and conducts research in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Carol E. Michelson (Ph.D. 1988) is a Member of Technical Staff at Motorola, Austin, TX

Fernando Parente (Ph.D. 1979) is Professor of Physics in the University of Lisbon, where he directs the Centro de Fisica Atomica

Hwanbae Park (Ph.D. 1993) is an Assistant Professor at Korea University

Kevin Pitts (Ph.D. 1994) is a Research Associate at Fermilab

Thomas Unold (Ph.D. 1993) is on the faculty at Oldenburg University, Germany

David Samuels (Ph.D. 1990) is a Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at the University of Newcastle, England

Michael Smith (Ph.D. 1993) is a Member of Technical Staff at NHMFL Tallahassee, FL

Stacey Sorensen (Ph.D. 1989) holds a research position in MAX-Lab, Lund, Sweden

John G. Story (B.A. 1983) is an Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Missouri at Rolla

Chris Swanson (Ph.D. 1992) is a Research Associate at the University of Oregon

Honghong Wang (Ph.D. 1995) holds a research position in MAX-Lab, Lund, Sweden

Roger R. Webb, (M.S. 1993) is a Sales Engineer for the Raman and Ellipsometry Division of Instruments SA/Horiba Group based in Sunnyvale, CA

Scott Whitfield (Ph.D. 1988) teaches in the Physics Department of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Clay Widmayer (Ph.D. 1994) is a member of the National Ignition Facility project at Lawrence Livermore National laboratory

Richard J. Wiener (Ph.D. 1991) is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Pacific University

Ben You (PH.D. 1993) is a Member of Technical Staff at the Technical Research Institute, Taiwan

Robert J. Zavrel Jr. (B.A. 1983) is a Wireless Engineering Manager at ATMEL Corp. in Colorado Springs, CO

Fan Zhong (Ph.D. 1994) is a Member of Technical Staff at dpix, a Xerox company, in Palo Alto, CA

Jingchen Zhou (Ph.D. 1997) is a member of the scientific staff at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratory

Ph.D. DEGREES AWARDED IN 1998

Matthew Anderson, "Squeezing in Nonlinear Optical Waveguides" (Advisor: M. Raymer)

Paul Bunson, "Adiabatic Contributions to Optical Second Harmonic Generation from Metal Surfaces" (Advisor: R. Haydock)

Chih-Chiang Chen, "Electronic Properties of Optimized Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon-Germanium Alloys" (Advisor: D. Cohen)

Laura Clarke, "Coulomb Blockade Dominated Transport at or Near Room Temperature in Gold Nanoparticles" (Advisor: M.N. Wybourne/D. Belitz)

Yujia Cui, "The Elasticity of Single DNA Molecules and Chromatin Fibers Deterined by Force Measuring Laser Tweezers" (Advisor: C. Bustamante/B. Matthews)

Kuo-Chung Hsu, "Bacteriorhodopsin as a Holographic-Data-Storage Material" (Advisor: G. Rayfield)

Thomas Hughes, "Synthesis and X-Ray Characterization of 3D Transition Metal Intercalates of Transition Metal Dicholcogenides and Their Superlattices" (Advisor: S. Kevan)

Hao Lee, "Self-Assembled Inas Quantum Dots: Structure, Formation Dynamics, Optical Properties" (Advisor: P. Sercel)

Neil Parker, "Aperiodic and Quasi-Periodic Variability iN Scorpius X-1" (Advisor: J. Imamura)

Steven Stalp, "Decay of Grid Turbulence in Superfluid Helium" (Advisor: R. Donnelly)

John Svitak, "Spectral Patterns and Phase Space Structure of Resonantly Coupled Molecular Vibrations" (Advisor: H. Carmichael)

Samuel Walker, "Quantitative Applications of Scanning Force Microscopy: Investigation of the Tata-Box Binding Protein-DNA Complex" (Advisor: C. Bustamante/B. Matthews)

Chung-Chieh Yu, "Experimental Study of Fluorescence Spectrum of Two-Level Atoms Driven by Bichromatic Optical Field Excitation" (Advisor: T. Mossberg)