Harvard University Department of Physics

Prof. Markus Greiner, grad students Waseem Bakr, Jonathon Gillen and Amy Peng, and post doc Simon Foelling published a letter in Nature describing a quantum gas 'microscope' realizing a system in which atoms of a macroscopic ensemble are detected individually and a complete set of degrees of freedom for each of them is determined through preparation and measurement. By implementing a high-resolution optical imaging system, single atoms are detected with near-unity fidelity on individual sites of a Hubbard-regime optical lattice. Nature 462, 74-77 (5 Nov. 2009) | doi:10.1038/nature08482.

Prof. David Weitz and colleagues from DEAS, Columbia University, University of North Texas, and Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) described a new way to model the formation of glasses, a type of amorphous solid that includes common window glass. Nature 462, 83-86 (5 November 2009) | doi:10.1038/nature08457

2:45-3:30 Reception in the Physics Library, 4th Floor
3:30-3:45 Tribute to Norman Ramsey: Jefferson 250
3:45-4:30 E. Norval Fortson (U. Washington), "A Permanent Electric Dipole Moment The Quest Continues".
4:30-5:15 David Wineland (NIST), "Microwave Masers to Optical Clocks Perspectives on Five Decades".

The work, titled Hypermusic Prologue: A Projective Opera in Seven Planes, was presented at the Pompidou Center in Paris on June 14-15, 2009. Watch a performance video at dailymotion.com; also read an article in the Gazette and a review in Nature (460, 177, 9 July 2009 | doi:10.1038/460177a)

in which they present evidence of a naturally occurring icosahedral quasicrystal that includes six distinct fivefold symmetry axes. The mineral, an alloy of aluminum, copper, and iron, occurs as micrometer-sized grains associated with crystalline khatyrkite and cupalite in samples reported to have come from the Koryak Mountains in Russia. The results suggest that quasicrystals can form and remain stable under geologic conditions, although there remain open questions as to how this mineral formed naturally. (Luca Bindi, Paul J. Steinhardt, Nan Yao, Peter J. Lu, "Natural Quasicrystals", Science 324, 5 June 2009 | doi: 10.1126/science.1170827)

Two of the department's longest serving and most dedicated staff will be retiring on June 30.

Vickie Greene has been for more than twelve years the personification of the department's Purchasing Office. Her "customer first" attitude and fierce commitment to keeping the vendors happy and the books in perfect order, have even been recognized by visits from other departments to study her system.

Charlene Newell, during the last fourteen years, has been the trusted right hand of a total of nine faculty and senior staff. A consummate generalist, she has supported their teaching, research, and administrative work with a rich repertoire of professional skills and an unflappable ability to keep many balls in the air at once.

We wish Vickie and Charlene the happiest of retirements. They will be sorely missed.

"...in recognition of [his] contributions to undergraduate teaching, advising, and mentoring". Read the Gazette article.

Professors Hongkun Park and Mikhail Lukin, along with colleagues at Harvard and at Pohang University in Korea, published a letter in Nature Physics, in which they describe a new all-electrical technique for detecting surface plasmon polaritons and single plasmon sources. (A. Falk, F. Koppens, C. Yu, K. Kang, N. Snapp, A. Akimov, M.-H. Jo, M. Lukin, and H. Park, "Near-field electrical detection of optical plasmons and single-plasmon sources", Nature Physics, published online: 24 May 2009 | doi:10.1038/nphys1284)

White Prize: David Benjamin, Colin Connolly, Timothy French, Jonathon Gillen, Laura Jeanty, Katharine Jensen, Mason Klein, Billy Lau, Corry Lee, Rachel McCord, Nils Sorenson, and Yang Qi.

Sanderson Award: Lin Cong.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 4:15 p.m.
Northwest Building, Room B103
52 Oxford Street, Cambridge , MA

Dr. Steven Chu, distinguished scientist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics (1997), was appointed by President Obama as the 12th Secretary of Energy and sworn into office on January 21, 2009. Dr. Chu has devoted his recent scientific career to the search for new solutions to our energy challenges and stopping global climate change – a mission he continues with even greater urgency as Secretary of Energy. He is charged with helping implement President Obama’s ambitious agenda to invest in alternative and renewable energy, end our addiction to foreign oil, address the global climate crisis and create millions of new jobs.

Sponsored by: Department of Physics, Harvard University Center for the Environment, and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

This award recognizes the special role that Harvard's Physics Department has played in the establishment of the physics discipline within the U.S. and the prominence of numerous Harvard physicists and applied scientists at the research frontier in this field.

A celebration of this event will occur from 4:00 to 4:30 pm on April 27, in Jefferson room 250, during which the President of the American Physical Society and incoming Harvard SEAS Dean Cherry Murray will present a commemorative plaque to Harvard President Drew Faust. The Department of Physics invites the Harvard community to join us for this ceremony. Read the Gazette article.

for "a demonstrated exemplary commitment to the achievement of equity for women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics".

in this week's cover story of Physical Review Letters: "Electro-Optical Nanotraps for Neutral Atoms" (102, 033003, 22 Jan. 2009 | doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.033003). The article is also featured in the APS publication Physics: Spotlighting Exceptional Research. The work represents the first merging of cold atom and nanoscale technologies, and shows that atoms can be trapped and cooled to extremely low temperatures with chip integrated nanostructures at room temperature. This has major importance for the field of quantum physics and technology, allowing for the creation of novel nano-optic devices and for fundamental investigations of quantum physics at the nanoscale.

"... for mentoring students for over 50 years in nuclear science, engineering and technology and his tireless efforts promoting peaceful application of nuclear power in support of 'Getting the Word Out'. Through over 900 papers and publications, and myriad lectures, he has provided invaluable insight and wisdom giving the nuclear community a profound legacy from which to draw knowledge. Professor Wilson's distinguished career is an inspiration."

The Conference, organized by the Sakharov Program on Human Rights & The Cold War Studies Project at The Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies in conjunciton with the Harvard Department of Physics, will take place at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Please consult the Conference website for further information.

Senior Lecturer on Physics R. Walsworth and his team created a new, walk-in, low-field, MRI system which will have applications for medical imaging, especially the MRI of the lungs. Read the Gazette story.

The award recognizes the Ph.D. dissertations completed by Hertz Fellows during the preceding academic year for their overall excellence and pertinence to high-impact applications of the physical sciences.

Professors Amir Yacoby and Mikhail Lukin, senior lecturer Ronald Walsworth, grad students Jeronimo Maze and Liang Jiang, post doc Jonathan Hodges, and research associate Alexander Zibrov, together with colleagues from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, SEAS, MIT, and University of Pittsburgh, demonstrated a new approach to nanoscale magnetic sensing. In a letter to journal Nature, the researchers described their new magnetic sensor which is potentially capable of probing extremely weak magnetic fields, such as those generated by the spin of an electron or a nucleus. This invention may potentially benefit a wide ranging of scientific fields, from materials science to biomedicine: "Nanoscale magnetic sensing with an individual electronic spin in diamond". (Nature 455, 2 Oct 2008 | doi:10.1038/nature07279)

for her "path-breaking" experiments with stopping and reviving light pulses. The Ledlie Prize is awarded no more than once every two years to someone affiliated with Harvard University who "since the last awarding of said prize has by research, discovery or otherwise made the most valuable contribution to science, or in any way for the benefit of mankind". [Read the Gazette story]

Prof. Park, to develop new nano- and microelectronic tools that enable the meticulous study of the design principles of the brain, and Prof. Samuel, to develop new biophysical and imaging techniques to link behavioral responses with neuronal activity. [Read the Gazette story]

to further develop electronic sequencing in nanopores. The grant is part of more than $20 million in total funding given by NHGRI/NIH to spur innovative sequencing technologies inexpensive and efficient enough to sequence a person's DNA as a routine part of biomedical research and health care.

The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics awards the Dirac Medal annually to scientists who have made significant contributions to physics.

The exercise was part of a continuing collaborative effort to improve basic science education. This project, called Picturing to Learn, is supported by a National Science Foundation grant and also involves Duke University and Roxbury Community College in Boston. Read the New York Times article.