Events at Physics |
Events on Thursday, October 15th, 2026
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar
- An interdisciplinary journey from quantum materials to quantum sensors
- Time: 10:00 am - 11:00 am
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Kin Chung Fong, Northeastern University
- Abstract: Quantum science and technology offer unprecedented opportunities to deepen our understanding of nature and enable transformative technologies. Realizing these opportunities, however, requires more than advances within a single discipline. New quantum phenomena must be understood at the level of materials, translated into controllable devices, and ultimately harnessed for increasingly sensitive measurements. This interplay between fundamental physics and device engineering can open pathways that are difficult to envision from any single field of study. In this talk, I will share my journey across quantum materials, quantum devices, and quantum sensing, illustrating how discoveries in one area can create new opportunities in another. We will begin with the unusual properties of Dirac and topological materials and explore how these quantum phenomena manifest in Josephson junctions. We will then turn to how the unique electronic and thermodynamic properties of these materials can be harnessed to develop novel single-photon detectors. Building on these ideas, we will explore two-dimensional van der Waals materials as platforms for miniaturized quantum devices, including qubits and quantum-noise-limited amplifiers. Turning this perspective around, we will then apply quantum sensors to investigate fundamental physics. We will focus on studying the pairing symmetry of unconventional superconductors, including magic-angle twisted graphene and topological Weyl superconductors, and explore how these emerging quantum-sensing technologies could enable new scientific frontiers, from planetary science to the search for axion dark-matter. Together, these examples illustrate how an interdisciplinary approach—connecting materials physics, quantum devices, sensing, and fundamental science—can create new pathways for quantum discovery and technology. References: 1. B. Huang, et. al., “Thermal detection of single photons using Dirac fermions,” Nat. Comm. 17, 3845 (2026). 2. J. Balgley, et. al., "Coherent and compact van der Waals transmon qubits," arXiv:2512.08059 (2025). 3. A. Banerjee, et. al., “Superfluid stiffness of twisted multilayer graphene superconductors,” Nature 638, 93 (2025).
- Host: Tiancheng Song
- Astronomy Colloquium
- Modeling the Chemical and Dynamic Feedback Mechanisms of Planet Formation
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place: 4421 Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Eric van Clepper, WiCOR
- Abstract: Planets form in protoplanetary disks, inheriting the composition of the solids and gas present at their formation location. These PPDs, however, are constantly evolving, with dust growth, fragmentation, and pebble drift driving chemical evolution in the gas. While these effects are beginning to be understood, what is less well constrained is the feedback mechanisms between growing planets and the disks in which they form. In this talk, I will discuss recent work using a variety of computational techniques to create a wholistic, self-consistent model of planet-disk interactions and the resulting disk chemical evolution. By combining constraints from disk observations, meteorite measurements, and exoplanet atmospheres I argue for an active stirring of dust near the orbit of giant planets, vertically mixing small dust grains and driving grain surface chemistry. This stirring may have important implications for the formation and transport of complex organic molecules throughout the disk, including delivery to inner terrestrial planets.
- Host: Coco Zhang