Last updated on March 22, 2024.
Jesse Berezovsky (last updated before 5/6/2019 ): A Condensed Matter Experimentalist, much of my work is motivated by possible quantum computing and primarily concerns the behavior of optically excited spins near defects and in quantum nano-structures. I am also interested in acoustics.
Potential Projects
By confining an electron within a nanoscale semiconductor structure, we can study its quantum behavior in a controlled environment, which may lead to new types of computing based on quantum phenomena. We are currently planning several experiments to understand and control the coherent dynamics of electron spins in these types of systems, and to explore the interaction of these spins with photons. Possible projects would include: 1. Controlling the spin/photon interaction with optical resonators; 2. Developing new techniques for measuring the coherent dynamics of electron spins; 3. Studying the coupling of confined spins with a magnetic environment.
Robert Brown (last updated 3/22/2024 ): An imaging / industrial / medical / particle physicist, I am also interested in science education.
Potential Projects
1) In our development of a novel device (CAPGLO) for the detection and capture of cancer, we are considering the detection and capture of t-cells, the body’s natural defense against disease. This is a new concept and is our main focus in the coming time. Opportunities for a capstone are good as we are just beginning this work.
2) General opportunities in chaos theory, MRI research, and particle physics can be considered, as we continue to work in these areas.
Ed Caner (last updated 5/1/2023 ): An Entrepreneurial Physicist, I direct the Physics Entrepreneurship Program Master’s program in our department. I advise (or more usually co-advise) students on projects that have innovation and/or entrepreneurship components, including opportunity analysis, market analysis, technology development forecasting, patenting, and early stage business strategy and funding.
Carlos Cardona (last updated 5/2/2023): Theoretical physicist working in several aspects of quantum field theory, typically using mathematical and computational tools.
Corbin Covault (last updated before 5/6/2019 ): An Astrophysicis Experimentalist, my primary interests are in high energy cosmic rays including the Pierre-Auger Observatory that detects them.
Potential Projects
Our group is active in experimental research in High Energy Astrophysics. Our major experimental effort is on the Pierre Auger Observatory which includes data collection from the completed Auger South (in Argentina) and R&D in anticipation of Auger North (to be deployed in southeastern Colorado) We are also active in two minor projects (XOSS and OSETI). Information can be found on the HEA group web page: http://hea.case.edu/ . What all these efforts have in common is (a) they involve looking for rapid flashes of light with photomultiplier tubes, and (b) each involves extensive collaboration with scientists and students within our group and among other groups. Senior projects in our group will be developed around one of these five efforts, typically with both instrumentation and software (analysis or simulation) components.
Possible senior projects include optical calibration studies, timing measurements with GPS equipment, cosmic ray shower simulations, and detector prototyping. Our group attracts a number of undergraduates with at least eight senior projects in the past four years. There are also some opportunities for projects in distributed computing and physics education research.
Pavel Fileviez (last updated 3/22/2024): Particle Physics and Cosmology, Physics beyond the Standard Model, Dark Matter and Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry in the Universe, New Physics at Colliders, Unification of Fundamental Forces, Supersymmetric Theories and others.
Potential Projects
– Dark Matter: the study of different dark matter candidates, axions, weakly interacting massive particles and others.
– Neutrino Physics: Investigate the origin of neutrino masses, the study of new neutrino interactions and others
– Baryon Asymmetry in the Universe: Investigate different mechanisms to explain the baryon asymmetry in the Universe
– Formal aspects of field theory.
– Higgs Physics at the Large Hadron Collider
Xuan Gao (last updated 3/4/2020): A Condensed Matter Experimentalist, I am interested in the synthesis and characterization of a variety of nanoscopic materials, including transparent conductors, semiconductors, topological insulators and 2D materials for nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, energy conversion, and sensing.
Potential Projects
New 2D Semiconductor Transistors with High-Performance
Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors similar to graphene, a single atomic sheet of carbon atoms, have received much interest for the development of next-generation nanoelectronics (e.g. nanoscale transistors). We will explore new 2D semiconductors (e.g. using van der Waals materials beyond transition metal dichalcogenides) or device modality (e.g. tunneling transistor instead of conventional field-effect transistor) to establish novel transistors with atomic thickness and high-performance.
Optoelectronics with Atomic Thickness
The extraction of atomically thin graphene from bulk graphite has inspired the broad pursuit of 2D materials with atomic thickness. In addition to their electronic properties, 2D materials’ optoelectronic behavior is of high interest for the development of nanoscale optoelectronics. We will explore the separation of ultra-thin nanoflakes of novel optoelectronic materials (e.g. hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites that have shown great promise in solar cells) and study their optoelectronic characteristics for photodetectors or photo-transistors.
Hetero-interfaces of 2D Materials
There are a variety of graphene-like 2D materials with unique physical properties or phases. For example, a 2D material can be metal, semi-metal, semiconductor, insulator, ferromagnet, superconductor, or even host more exotic quantum phases with topological protection. Interfacing a material with another one with different quantum phases offers the opportunity to introduce new phases or functionality in a material. In this project, we aim to build hetero-structures of 2D materials and introduce controllable ferromagnetism or superconductivity in a 2D semiconductor via the proximity effect.
Michael Hinczewski (last updated before 5/6/2019): A Biophysics and Soft Condensed Matter Theorist, I am interested in the interactions of biopolymers such as proteins and force microscopy as a probe thereof.
Kathleen Kash (last updated 5/2/2021 ): My research group grows new materials, particularly complex novel nitride semiconductors and characterizes their properties. We are especially interested in how their complexity can change their properties in unexpected and useful ways, with the aim toward developing new semiconductor devices.
Potential Projects
The binary III-V semiconductors GaN, InN and AlN, composed of one valence III and one valence V atom, are responsible for the revolution in lighting technology, and the award for the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics. Many members of the much larger family of ternary II-IV-nitride semiconductors such as, for example, ZnGeN 2 , are intimately related to the III-V family but are much less well-studied. Some of these are composed entirely of abundant, non-toxic materials so may have important environmental impact if they can be developed to displace other less environmentally friendly materials. Possible projects in my lab could include developing new ways to grow an entirely new ternary or even quaternary nitride semiconductor, or improving the growth process sufficiently to reveal new and interesting properties. Other possible projects could include measuring the optical properties of these materials and new materials grown by collaborators to understand electronic processes—how electrons excited by photon absorption lose their energy. A computational project to calculated the energy levels and optical properties of ultrashort-period, random super-lattices may also be available.
If you are interested, please contact Prof. Kash by email, kathleen.kash@case.edu.
Lydia Kisley (last updated 3/22/2024): Professor Kisley’s group uses single molecule and high resolution optical microscopy to study (bio/polymer/nano) materials at high resolutions. We are looking for scientists and engineers excited about interdisciplinary research to join our team. We welcome motivated undergraduate students to actively participate in the research, scientific communication, and social environment of the research group. Therefore, undergraduate group members are expected to attend and participate in weekly group and subgroup meetings if they are available.
Walter Lambrecht (last updated 3/22/2024 ): A Theoretical and Computational Condensed Matter Physicist, I am interested in modeling a variety of materials and materials properties using quantum mechanical approaches, ranging from semiconductors and defects to magnetic materials. Some projects focus on specific materials, others on methods development.
Potential Projects
Wide band gap semiconductor modeling
Wide band gap semiconductors extend the functionality of current semiconductors. In collaboration with K. Kash, the Lambrecht group has been studying the family of II-IV-N2 semiconductors. Some outstanding problems remain unanswered: for example why are the Si based ZnSiN2 and MgSiN2 semiconductors indirect gap while the Ge and Sn based ones are direct gap? Our current hypothesis is that this is related to the distortion from the idealized wurtzite like structure, which is in turn related to the relative size of Si vs. Ge, Zn. Mg cations. In this project you would learn how to use realistic density functional theory and many-body-perturbation theory based band structure methods to explore how the structural distortions affect the band structure aspects such as direct vs. indirect band gap. We can also study how these changes affect defect levels and doping opportunities in these materials.
Michael A. Martens (last updated 8/18/2023): Primarily a Medical Imaging Physicist, I am interested in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and a variety of other magnetic imaging modalities. I have also worked in Experimental Particle Physics and will consider supervising a range of projects in experimental physics. I also co-advise projects with other faculty members interested in Magnetic Resonance
Potential Projects
Please come talk to me. I have wide interests in Experimental Physics and particularly Magnetic Resonance techniques.
Harsh Mathur (last updated 3/31/2022): A theoretical physicist, I work on condensed matter physics, gravitation and cosmology and interdisciplinary problems.
A selection of past projects with undergraduates are listed below. Future projects would be on similar subjects.
Potential Projects
[1] “Symmetry breaking, strain solitons and mechanical edge modes in monolayer antimony”, Joshua Chiel, Harsh Mathur and Onuttom Narayan (submitted to Physical Review B, Dec 2019; arXiv:1912.05791). [2] “The Effect of Forcing on Vacuum Radiation”, Katherine Brown, Harsh Mathur and Ashton Lowenstein, Physical Review A99, 022504 (2019) (link). [3] “Contact interactions and Kronig-Penney Models in Hermitian and PT-Symmetric Quantum Mechanics”, Foster Thompson, Katherine Brown, Harsh Mathur and Kristin McKee, Journal of Physics A51, 495204 (2018) (link). [4] “The Radial Acceleration Relation and a Magnetostatic Analogy in Quasilinear MOND”, Katherine Brown, Roshan Abrahahm, Leo Kell and Harsh Mathur, New Journal of Physics 20, 063042 (2018) (link). [5] “An Electrostatic Analogy for Symmetron Gravity”, Lillie Ogden, Katherine Brown, Harsh Mathur and Kevin Rovelli, Physical Review D96, 124029 (2017) (link). [6] “Exploring extra dimensions with scalar waves”, Katherine Brown, Harsh Mathur and Michael Verostek, American Journal of Physics 86, 327 (2018) (link). [7] “An analysis of the LIGO discovery based on Introductory Physics”, Harsh Mathur, Katherine Brown and Ashton Lowenstein, American Journal of Physics 85, 676 (2017) (link). [8] “Particle in a box in PT-Symmetric quantum mechanics and an electromagnetic analog”, Anirudh Dasarathy, Joshua Isaacson, Katherine Jones-Smith, Jason Tabachnik and Harsh Mathur, Physical Review A87, 062111 (2013) (link). [9] “Correlations and Critical Behavior of the q-model”, Alexander St. John and Harsh Mathur, Physical Review E84, 051303 (2011) (link).Benjamin Monreal (last updated 5/3/2019): a nuclear, particle, and astro experimentalist. My lab is working on new detector technologies for future neutrino and dark-matter detectors; on solving engineering problems of giant optical telescopes; and on miscellaneous astroparticle phenomenology simulations and data analysis.
Potential Projects
A hands-on lab senior project might involve designing, fabricating (possibly 3D-printing), and testing some new structures which could be used to amplify tiny electron signals in a gas proportional counter; there is a chance that an astronomical optics project is available. An engineering-design-oriented project might involve (if you have MechE interests) design of large telescope hardware components to try to meet thermal, vibration, or strain specifications; electrical, civil, or aerospace-centric design projects can also be imagined. A software/simulation/data-analysis-oriented project might be writing a GEANT simulation of a large particle detector; or running an optical simulation package to analyze a telescope’s adaptive optics limitations; or possibly astronomical data analysis.
Johanna Nagy (last updated 5/1/2023): An astrophysics experimentalist, Her group studies the Cosmic Microwave Background by building balloon-borne and ground-based instruments and analyzing the resulting data.
John Ruhl (last updated 3/30/2022 ): An Astrophysics Experimentalist, I study the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), primarily small angle and polarization (B-mode) correlations in the CMB. I use radiotelescopes, either near the south pole, or carried on balloons.
Potential Projects
Projects are available related to the development of millimeter-wave cameras and telescopes, and observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. Please come talk with me.
Anuj Saini (last updated 3/31/2022 ): Research in Professor Saini’s group is focused on understanding the physics of various degradation processes at the single-molecule scale in various man-made systems and applying them for better materials and system design. We are looking for interested undergraduate scientists and engineers to work with us. Our work is at the interface of physics, chemistry, biophysics, materials science, chemical and biomolecular engineering, and optics.
Potential Projects
Understanding the Limitations to Optical Data Storage: The project will be at the interface of science and engineering and will involve both experimental work and computer simulations. We are looking to improve the new and upcoming technology that involves using fluorescent media for optical data storage. This project will involve working with another undergraduate student to develop an optical setup using the components from the commercial optical pickup drive to write and potentially read data bits from dye doped polymer film media. Later part of the project will involve developing a methodology to understand the limitations of such an optical data storage media. This project might provide an opportunity to work with a local start up company working on this technology.
Evangelos Sfakianakis (last updated 5/1/2023 ): A theoretical cosmologist, I am interested in models of inflation, the transition from inflation to the hot big bang (reheating) and constraining particle theories (the Standard Model and beyond) using the early universe. I am also interested in non-linear field dynamics and the interplay between classical and quantum degrees of freedom
Potential Projects
Multi-field models of inflation
Recently models of inflation which violate the usual slow-roll slow-turn paradigm have been discovered; one of them (angular inflation) by my collaborators and me. These models help evade certain Swampland constraints. However angular inflation has been studied only for two fields and a specific potential. I want to study how the results change with the introduction of more fields and how that affects observables. Also, I am interested in understanding the relation of Swampland constraints to inflationary models better, using the effective potential formalism that my collaborators and I developed.
Preheating
My collaborators and I have developed a framework for computing the efficiency of preheating for models of inflation where the fields are coupled through their kinetic terms, as well as through their potential. I want to use preheating to break degeneracies between models that provide the same CMB observables, but due to their structure at small field values, are expected to exhibit much different preheating dynamics.
Oscillons
Oscillons are long-lived localized field configurations that arise in field theories with attractive non-linearities. Most of the literature has been focused on single-field oscillons. I have embarked on a program to study multi-field oscillons and explore the conditions for their emergence and longevity.
Classical Quantum Correspondence
The dynamics of quantum fields on space-time dependent classical backgrounds is interesting both as a fundamental question as well as for its phenomenological applications. The classical-quantum correspondence (CQC) is a framework for computing both the creation of particles in a space-time dependent background, as well as their back reaction on the background itself. Examples include collisions of solitons or kinks, oscillons and expanding bubble walls. So far most analyses have focused on 1D or effectively 1D problems. Extending the method to higher dimensions will allow us to simulate realistic systems, like bubble collisions, in the presence of quantum back-reaction.
Ken Singer (last updated before 5/6/2019 ): A Condensed Matter Experimentalist, I am interested in the linear and non-linear optical behavior of a variety of materials, including high density information storage in layered polymer systems and nanoscopically assembled biological systems. I also study organic semiconductors for transistors and solar cells and how nanoscopic materials can improve their efficiency.
Potential Projects
Solar Energy: Next Generation Photovoltaic Materials
Polymers are currently receiving intense interest as the next generation materials for solar energy conversion. My group is investigating the optical and electronic properties of these new materials. Potential senior projects on this topic include studies of charge mobility in new self-assembling polymer blends, imaging studies of nanoscale morphology using 3-D tomographic electron microscopy and nonlinear optical near-field imaging, and studies of optical trapping and power conversion efficiency in ultrathin polymer blend films. Students will carry out optical and electronic measurements and fabricate structures in our new solar cell fabrication laboratory.
Nonlinear Optical Materials
Nonlinear optical materials have a number of current and future applications such as tunable lasers, optical data storage, optical computing, etc. We are looking into new polymeric and organic materials for these applications and are working on studying mechanisms and materials for nonlinear optics. Potential senior projects include studies of nonlinear optical responses in new materials, optical second harmonic generation in multilayer polymer films, nonlinear absorption and intensity dependent refractive index measurements. These are all laser experiments using widely tunable pulsed lasers in the Organic Optoelectronics laboratory.
Glenn Starkman (last updated before 5/6/2019 ): An Astrophysics / Particle Physics Theorist, I have a variety of interests, including theoretical analysis of the Cosmic Microwave Background to understand if the universe is truly infinite or if it has a non-trivial topology.
Potential Projects
I am willing to discuss a variety of projects in theoretical cosmology and particle physics.
Cyrus Taylor (last updated 3/30/2022): I have worked on (and supervised undergraduate senior projects in) a wide variety of physics areas, including aspects of both theoretical and experimental high energy physics, physics entrepreneurship, mathematics of finance, and studies of access and equity issues in physics. Much of my current work is related to aspects of physics and climate change.
Idit Zehavi (last updated 8/17/2020 ): Astrophysics, Cosmology, Large Scale Structure, Observationally-motivated theorist.
Potential Projects
Large galaxy surveys such as the SDSS have greatly improved our understanding of large-scale structure and enable detailed studies of the clustering of galaxies and their implications for cosmology, galaxy formation and evolution, and the relation between galaxies and dark matter halos. We aim to explore the galaxy-halo connection using simulations of physical models in order to extend the current empirical approach and build better models to describe the data. Related projects at the interface of theory and observations will explore the role of the large-scale environment in shaping the galaxy content of dark matter halos, their physical properties and galaxy clustering.
Shulei Zhang (last updated 3/30/2022): A condensed matter theorist. I am interested in spin and charge dynamics/transport in magnetic and topological materials including ordinary transition metal ferromagnets, magnetic insulators, topological insulators and semimetals
Potential Projects
Spin wave modes in chiral magnets
Chiral magnets are a class of noncentrosymmetric magnetic materials that are known to host topological spin textures such as skyrmions, meron-antimeron pairs etc. Different types of topological spin textures carry different topological charges (which are characterized by integer numbers -1, +1 etc). It would be interesting to explore how spin wave modes – collective excitations of magnets – depend on the topological property of a nontrivial spin texture. This project requires both analytical and numerical methods to solve a set of coupled partial-differential equations (i.e., the Landau-Lifshitz equation).
Motion of magnetic textures driven by spin waves
While the motion of a magnetic texture in a nanowire is usually driven by either an electric current or a magnetic field, in principle it can also be driven by propagating spin waves since each spin wave carries an angular momentum which can be transferred to the magnetic texture. The propagating spin waves can be excited by a local alternating magnetic field or a temperature gradient. This project will involve seeking numerical solutions of the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation via micromagnetic simulations which are well-established numerical tools for studying multidomain magnetization dynamics.