The faculty, staff and students in the department of physics conduct research in over 40,000 sq. ft. of space that houses state of the art equipment. Research activities cover the spectrum of theoretical, experimental, computational, and applied development. Physics faculty have active collaborations with physicists in academia, industry and government laboratories. The faculty investigators have received nearly $40 M in federal and state funding to support their research activities. This has included major support from NSF, NASA, NOAA, DOE and DOD among others.
Areas of research include: Astrophysics, Condensed Matter Physics, Plasma Physics, LaserPlasma Interactions, Fusion Research, High Energy Physics, Computational Dynamics of Atomic and Molecular Systems, Nanoscience, Materials Processing and Characterizations, and Ultra-fast Spectroscopy.
In support of these research efforts, the department of physics is home to many unique laboratory instruments and supporting diagnostics including:
- 4 Terawatt Ultrafast Laser System
- X-Pinch System
- Raman Microscope
- 128 - Node (256 Processor) Apple Xserve Computing Cluster
- Mach 50 Arc Driven Shock Tube
- Many other Nanosecond and Femetosecond Laser Systems
