Faculty Research Areas | Department of Physics and Astronomy, Waterloo Science

Faculty Member	Research Interests	Area
Michael Balogh	star formation and stellar populations in galaxy clusters and groups; properties of the intracluster medium; galaxy formation.	ASP
Kostadinka Bizheva	biomedical optics, optical coherence tomography, tissue optics, optical spectroscopy, confocal and fluorescence microscopy, ultrafast optics	AMO
Anton Burkov	cold atom superfluids: nonequilibrium dynamics, quantum phase transitions, instabilities; superconductor-insulator transition in thin amorphous films	CMMP
Melanie Campbell	optical properties of the eye, optical quality of ophthalmic instrumentation and optical design, refractive properties of the crystalline lens and their changes with growth and accommodation, retinal image quality, monochromatic aberrations of the eye, optical effects of refractive surgery, reflections from the retina, confocal microscopy and ophthalmoscopy, measurement of refractive error	AMO
Z.Y. Jeff Chen	condensed matter physics theory, Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics computer simulations, biological physics, polymers and biopolymers	CMMP
Walt Duley	Optics of nanoparticle systems. Generation and spectral characterization of novel carbon nanoparticle compositions. Calculation of vibrational states (Gaussian 03). Mass spectrometric studies of femtosecond/nanosecond laser ablation. Role of nanoparticles in astrochemistry and astrobiology. Properties of nano-assembled carbon films.	IAP ASP AMO CMMP
Michel Fich	The properties of all components of the interstellar medium, especially as they relate to the structure of the Milky Way, are being investigated. This includes the study of the large scale distribution of various components of the Galactic disk: HII regions, molecular clouds, supernova remnants, dust, and metals	ASP
James Forrest	physics of soft materials; physics of polymer thin films; crystalline polymers; polymer interfaces and adhesion; confinement of polymer chains; glass transition in confined geometry	CMMP
Michel Gingras	Condensed Matter Theory, Statistical Mechanics	CMMP
Bae-Yeun Ha	Theory of biopolymers and biomembranes; DNA packaging; Membrane rupture; Polymer statics/dynamics	MBP
Gretchen Harris	Spectroscopic and photometric studies of globular clusters in the Galaxy and extragalactic systems; stellar populations in galaxies; open clusters	ASP
David Hawthorn	condensed matter physics experiments, synchrotron x-ray scattering and spectroscopy, strongly correlated electron systems, unconventional magnetism and superconductivity
Robert Hill	Unconventional superconductivity, quantum phase transitions, transport in low dimensional materials	CMMP
Mike Hudson	Cosmic flows, NOAO Fundamental Plane Survey, Streaming Motions of Abell Clusters, gravitational lensing, large scale structure	ASP
Stefan Idziak	Complex Fluids; Confinement; Synchrotron X-Ray Diffraction	CMMP MBP
Jan Kycia	Low Temperature Physics, Josephson Junctions, Coulomb Blockade, Unconventional Superconductivity	CMMP QC
Raymond Laflamme	Quantum Information Theory and Experiments, Quantum Computing, Quantum Control, Quantum Simulations, Quantum Gravity and Cosmology	AMO CMMP IAP QC
Zoya Leonenko	biophysics of lipids and lipid-protein interactions, the role of structural changes and physical properties of lipid template in controlling biological processes and diseases, application of lipid films in biomedical nanotechnology; fluorescence and atomic force microscopy, Kelvin probe force microscopy, single molecule force spectroscopy	MBP
Wing-Ki Liu	Molecular collision theory. Kinetic theory. Laser-molecule interaction. Particle-surface interaction. Nonlinear dynamics	AMO IAP
Qing-Bin Lu	Biophysics & Biochemistry (Molecular switches controlling DNA damage and cell deatj), Ultrafast laser spectroscopic techniques, Nanometer-scale surface Science, Environmental/Atmospheric science (Ozone depletion science).	AMO CMMP IAP MBP
Norbert Lütkenhaus	theory of practical quantum key distribution systems methods and tools for entanglement verification linear optic quantum logic operation and measurement implementation quantum state detection and estimation theory	AMO QC
Robert Mann	Gravitation and Particle Physics; Tests of Gravitational Theory, Black Holes; Quantum Gravity and String Theory	ASP QC TP
James Martin	Laser physics, Rydberg and ion-pair states, laser cooling, THz source development	AMO QC
Brian McNamara	Galaxy Formation; Galaxy clusters, cosmology; cooling flows; the intracluster medium; properties of super-massive black holes; radio galaxies; stellar populations; optical imaging, polarimetry, spectroscopy, X-ray, radio, infrared observations; space astronomy: CCD detectors, optics	ASP
Roger Melko	strongly-correlated many-body systems, with a focus on ground state properties, phase transitions, and quantum criticality; low-temperature physics of classical and quantum magnetic materials; numerical studies of microscopic models that display interesting quantum behavior in the bulk, such as superconducting, superfluid or supersolid phases; Density Matrix Renormalization Group method, its application to one-dimensional physical systems, and its relations to the field of quantum information	CMMP
Robert Myers	General relativity, string theory	ASP TP
Hartwig Peemoeller	Molecular biophysics; chemical physics; nuclear magnetic resonance	CMMP IAP MBP
Kevin Resch	experimental quantum communication and computation optical sources of entanglement measurement and quantum state tomography quantum interference nonlinear optics	AMO QC
Joseph Sanderson	Coulomb imaging of molecules with intense femtosecond laser pulses. Controlling molecular geometry and alignment with intense nonresonant laser radiation. Development of ultrashort intense laser sources	AMO
Günter Scholz	condensed matter physics, intercalation systems, high resolution transmission electron microscopy	CMMP
Donna Strickland	Intense laser-matter interactions; nonlinear optics; short-pulse, intense laser systems	AMO
James Taylor	Dark matter, cosmological structure formation, galaxy formation, galaxy dynamics, galaxy clusters, massive black holes, cosmology, computational & theoretical astrophysics	ASP
Russell Thompson	Soft condensed matter physics; theory of block copolymers, nanocomposite materials, self-assembled nanostructures; self-consistent field theory; computational physics	CMMP
Gregor Weihs	Sources of Entangled Photon Pairs; Quantum Physics; Semiconductors; Fiber Optics	AMO QC
Paul Wesson	Cosmology, Gravitation, Galaxies, Solar System, Bioastronomy	ASP
Frank Wilhelm	quantum computing with superconducting nanocircuits decoherence theory circuit QED control theory quantum noise mesoscopic physics and nanodevices nonequilibrium quantum statistics	AMO CMMP IAP QC
David Yevick	Electric Field Propagation in Optical Waveguides, Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations, Object-Oriented Modeling of Physical Systems	AMO IAP

ASP = Atmospheric & Space Physics
AMO = Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics
CMMP = Condensed Matter & Material Physics
IAP = Iandustrial & Applied Physics
MBP = Medical & Biological Physics
QC = Quantum Computing
TP = Theoretical Physics