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A person in a yellow shirt seen from behind works with a transmission electron microscope in a darkened room.

University secures federal funding to enable advanced quantum research

The funding supports the acquisition of a state-of-the-art transmission electron microscope to accelerate research in quantum information science.

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Partial solar eclipse seen through clouds.

Get ready for the total solar eclipse on April 8

Rochester will be among the prime viewing spots for the next total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.

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View from inside the OMEGA laser system's target chamber during a direct drive fusion experiment.

Scientists create new ‘spark plug’ for fusion reactions

Techniques developed with the Laboratory for Laser Energetics’ OMEGA laser system hold promise for sparking fusion at larger scales.

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Illustration depicting five conveyer belts, each carrying different type of cartoon alien and going through an o2 representing the oxygen atmospheric bottleneck with the largest aliens emerging with fire.

Is oxygen the cosmic key to alien technology?

Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank explores the links between atmospheric oxygen and detecting extraterrestrial technology on distant planets.

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Mixed media illustration showing full chemical complexity of quantum decoherence.

New strategy reveals ‘full chemical complexity’ of quantum decoherence

The findings can be used to design molecules with custom quantum coherence properties, laying the chemical foundation for emerging quantum technologies.

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Stylized image of particle accelerator at Fermilab that produces beam of neutrinos to measure protons.

Rochester research with ‘ghostly’ neutrinos among Physics World’s breakthroughs of the year

Led by researchers from the University of Rochester, scientists from the international collaboration MINERvA have, for the first time, used a beam of hard-to-detect neutrinos to investigate the structure of protons.

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We offer degrees in physics and in physics and astronomy, as well as many research opportunities for undergraduates.

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From subatomic particles to the structure of the Universe itself, our award-winning faculty study nature on every scale.

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The Department of Physics and Astronomy is committed to increasing the diversity of its student body, faculty, and staff. We are a partner institution in the APS Bridge and Cal-Bridge programs.

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Spotlight

Ketevan Kotorashvili receives Tsinandli Award in Natural Sciences

Keti Kotorashvili picture

Ketevan (Keti) Kotorashvili, a graduate student in the University of Rochester’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and a Horton Fellow of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), recently received the Zurab Zhvania Foundation’s 2023 Tsinandli Award in Natural Sciences for her research on the evolution of stars.

photo of avram milder

Avram Milder ’21 (PhD), a scientist in the Laser–Plasma Interactions Group at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, has been selected to receive the Chiyoe Yamanaka Award at the International Conference on Inertial Fusion Sciences and Applications (IFSA). Milder has been selected for his trailblazing measurements of electron distribution functions performed at the Omega Laser Facility that has opened a new avenue for researchers exploring fundamental plasma-physics. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the University of Rochester nearly $18 million over three years to design and prototype key technologies for EP-OPAL, a new facility dedicated to the study of ultrahigh-intensity laser-matter interactions. Physics professor Antonino Di Piazza is one of the co-principal investigators for the EP-OPAL project.

Professor Antonino Di Piazza

https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/nsf-funds-multi-institutional-ep-opal-laser-design-568092/

Kelly Douglass gives an interview about AAS Journal article on cosmic voids

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Kelly Douglass (University of Rochester) chats about her AAS Journal article on voids, and where we can go from here given the published article.

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Life of a Cosmology Graduate Student

Zachery Brown in the lab

Growing up, I never imagined that I’d become a physicist. I always enjoyed my physics classes, but was convinced that I’d study engineering in college. Yet as a high school senior, I took an electricity and magnetism course that really caught my attention. And as it happened, I attended a small liberal arts college without an engineering program. I made the decision to major in physics instead.

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Physics, Optics, and Astronomy (POA) Library

The POA library houses a comprehensive collection of journals, monographs and online data bases, supporting the research and teaching activities of the department.

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