LET THERE BE LIGHT: High Energy Density Physics in the Scarlet Laser Lab
front image: Girls at GRASP camp discover the fun of physics
The SCARLET Laser Lab lights leading-edge research
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A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
GRASP THE POSSIBILITIES: GIRLS REACHING TO ACHIEVE IN SPORTS AND PHYSICS
8 A YEAR IN REVIEW
LET THERE BE LIGHT:
THE HIGH ENERGY DENSITY PHYSICS SCARLET LASER LAB
12 GIVING: MAKING A DIFFERENCE 14 IN STUDENTS’ LIVES CELEBRATING STUDENT SUCCESS
15 NEW FACULTY
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
PHYSICS RESEARCH IN THE NEWS
Dear Friends of Physics,
Our physics researchers, who are funded by the nation’s top granting agencies, lead the way in discovery, innovation, and problem solving. Here is a sample of some recent breakthrough research in the news.
One of my greatest pleasures as chair is to share with you some of the exciting things that we are doing in the Department of Physics. As the new academic year begins, Carmen Ohio rings throughout campus, especially on Saturdays in the ‘Shoe. It reminds us that time and change are constant, but so too is our commitment to Ohio State. In this issue, we highlight change and commitment, beginning with our cover story on GRASP. GRASP reflects our commitment to encourage young women to think about careers in science and to grow a new generation of women physicists by highlighting that physics can be fun. The SCARLET Laser Lab feature gives you a glimpse of a state-of-the-art facility that provides our students with cutting-edge capabilities to study high energy density physics. You will also read about the people who make us one of the country’s outstanding physics departments: dynamic faculty, whose discoveries make news and are recognized for their accomplishments; outstanding students, undergraduate and graduate, who compete with the best nationally; and staff members, who serve our students and coordinate our successful outreach events. This is just a taste of physics at Ohio State; for more, please visit: physics.osu.edu Please let us hear from you. Best Wishes,
Jim Beatty Professor/Chair
Closing in on Hybrid Spintronic Computer Chips Assistant Professor Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin combined an inorganic semiconductor with a unique plastic material (being developed in colleague Arthur J. Epstein’s lab) to create the first electronic circuit merging traditional inorganic semiconductors with organic spintronics – devices that utilize the spin of electrons to read, write and manipulate data. go.osu.edu/spintronic
Discovery Might Be Key to Develop SunburnHealing Drug Dongping Zhong, the Robert Smith Professor of Physics and professor of chemistry and biochemistry, led a team of researchers who discovered one tiny electron might be the key to develop drugs to heal sunburn in humans. After nearly a decade of work to piece together how an enzyme repairs sun-damaged DNA, the team was finally able to witness the entire process in full detail. go.osu.edu/sunburn
Reaching Record MRI Resolution In a development that holds potential for both data storage and biomedical imaging, Chris Hammel, Ohio Eminent Scholar in Experimental Physics, and his colleagues, used a new technique to obtain the highestever resolution MRI scan of the inside of a magnet. go.osu.edu/mrimagnet
New Alternative to Traditional Semiconductors Arthur J. Epstein, Distinguished University Professor of Physics and Chemistry, and director of the Institute for Magnetic and Electronic Polymers; and his team created a prototype plastic spintronic device that could store more data in less space, process data faster, and consume less power. go.osu.edu/spindata
Unexpected Help from Gravity
JIm Beatty, Physics Department Chair
Haojing Yan, postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics (CCAPP), finds as many as 20 percent of the most distant galaxies currently detected appear brighter than they actually are, because of an effect called “strong gravitational lensing.” His work could change ideas of how galaxies formed in the early universe. go.osu.edu/gravityboost *For more information on these stories please visit: physics.osu.edu
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GRASP THE POSSIBILITIES: GIRLS REACHING TO ACHIEVE IN SPORTS AND PHYSICS {Story on the next page.}
THE CAMP GOT ME TO LEARN HOW MUCH FUN SCIENCE IS AND HOW MUCH I CAN ENJOY IT.
Energy meets Gravity at the Climbing Wall
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I REALLY ENJOYED GETTING TO LEARN ABOUT HOW AND WHY THINGS WORK, AND MAKING NEW FRIENDS.
Physics Professor Linn Van Woerkom blows them away.
Everyone wants to increase the number of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines. The Physics Undergraduate Studies Office and the Society of Women in Physics are doing something about it that is very cool – attracting girls to science through engaging activities. GRASP (Girls Reaching to Achieve in Sports and Physics), a weeklong day camp that makes physics fun, relevant, and accessible to middle school girls, finished its fourth year in June. It has been so popular that last year a second week was added to help accommodate demand. “We wanted to target middle school girls, because that’s about the age girls start to turn away from math and science,” said Physics Undergraduate Program Vice Chair, Richard Hughes.
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“The idea for a summer camp that would combine lectures on a topic in physics with demonstrations and sports related to that topic originated with two undergraduate student leaders, Jessica Hanzlik and Lindsey (Perry) Thaler.” “We wanted to give girls an introduction to physics that was fun and part of everyday life. By linking physics to sports you can feel and see physics happening around you,” said Lindsey Thaler, now Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies and GRASP co-director.
their time and talents.” “An introduction to science at this age is so important – and who doesn’t like sports? It’s a great way to engage them while they’re young,” said Undergraduate Program Coordinator and GRASP co-director, Robin Wyatt. “The number of applicants increases every year; we had to turn 28 of this year’s 88 applicants away. This is sad. I want every girl to have this experience, but unfortunately funding is an issue for us.”
Engage them they do – each day. “When we started planning this in early Lectures, interactive demonstrations, 2008, I don’t think we realized how and projects are matched with much work and dedication would be physical activities that illustrate required to sustain it. We could not principles of physics. do it without the support of (Physics Chair) Jim Beatty, and our faculty, staff, “We take full advantage of the and undergraduate and graduate opportunities we have here on students who generously volunteer campus to incorporate sports into
the program,” Hughes said. “Typically, the first day of each camp, we try to meet with members of the football team who teach the girls how to throw—and catch—a football. That is a natural introduction to a lecture about the physics of throwing objects through the air.”
Girls learn bikes are more than just fun
Thursday is reserved for an all-day field trip to COSI (the Center of Science and Industry) to enjoy an array of exhibits, workshops, live shows, and hands-on everything. Friday starts at the West Campus Climbing Wall, where volunteers explain how energy and gravity relate to what they are about to do. In the afternoon, faculty volunteer Linn Van Woerkom keeps the campers’ rapt attention as he unrolls (literally at one point, see left) demo after demo making textbook principles come alive and the air crackle with anticipation.
Getting psyched for the climb
The last day ends with the girls creating a little Mentos and cola magic in the Physics Research Building courtyard, followed by using liquid nitrogen to make ice cream. “Coupling real science with fun activities gets the girls thinking that maybe science is something they want to do in the future,” Hughes said, happily joining the girls eating ice cream. Interested in helping to start a fund to support the GRASP Program? Please contact Gerri Bain, Arts and Sciences Development Officer, at 614-292-4008, or email bain.32@osu.edu.
I USED TO NOT LIKE SCIENCE AND NOW I DO.
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Facing GRASP camp’s final frontier
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A YEAR IN REVIEW
Graduate student Andrea Albert ready to wow the crowd
PHYSICS GOES TO THE FAIR For the past 10 years, physics department volunteers have given Ohio State Fairgoers the chance to see and understand real-world physics. A combination of hands-on learning activities and oh-wow demos appeal to physics fans of all ages. “The bed of nails is the favorite of all the learning activities,” said lecture demonstrator Harold Whitt, who has been the event’s prime mover – in more ways than one. Whitt is responsible for getting all the gizmos there and back in one piece. Traffic through the booth is constant and on weekends it soars. “People return time after time and year after year. I’ve literally seen some kids grow up,” Whitt said. Volunteering at the event for the past three years has been a labor of love for physics graduate students Andrea Albert and Becca Reesman. This year, they led the effort, coordinating volunteers and activities and taking turns at the booth. “Four years ago, Physics at the Fair became a major outreach project of Graduate Women in Physics (GWIP),” Albert said. Reesman, President of GWIP said, “Outreach is at the center of GWIP. This event is a chance to interact with people from all over Ohio and show them the importance and the fun of physics.” Read more about Graduate Women in Physics at physics.ohio-state.edu/GWIP.
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SMITH LECTURE
One of those oh-wow demos
The annual Alpheus Smith Lecture celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2012, making it possibly the oldest annual public lecture series on campus. Our capstone event, it signals our ongoing commitment to presenting the hottest topics in physics illuminated by the best minds in the field in a public arena. The Smith Lecture is made possible by an endowed fund named for Alpheus W. Smith, who chaired the physics department from 1926-46.
BIARD LECTURE The Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics’ popular Biard Lectures make astrophysics accessible, exciting, and fun. Last year’s panel discussion with NASA astronauts, Senator John Glenn, John M. Grunsfeld, and The Honorable Harrison H. Schmitt, was standing room only. The public lecture series is supported by a gift from the late Captain Forrest R. Biard, U.S. Navy, Ret. MS, physics, 1953. Visit: ccapp.osu.edu to check out time and topic of 2011 lecture.
FACULTY AWARDS
Honscheid Named to NSF/DOE High Energy Physics Advisory Panel
Professor Junko Shigemitsu Receives 2011 Distinguished Scholar Award
Professor Klaus Honscheid has been appointed to a three-year term on the National Science Foundation/U.S. Department of Energy’s High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP). HEPAP was formed in 1967 and has advised the Federal Government on the national program in experimental and theoretical high energy physics research since that time. Honscheid is a member of the Experimental High Energy Physics Research Group and received the Alumni Teaching Award in 2008.
The Distinguished Scholar Award, sponsored by the university’s Office of Research, acknowledges senior faculty with a significant record of ongoing, leading-edge research. Shigemitsu is a world leader in lattice gauge theory, or lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD), a method of calculating subatomic particles from first principles using supercomputers. She has played a central role in developing lattice QCD as a practical tool that allows new insights into the fundamental properties of matter. She was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2000, has published 79 papers in top-tier physics journals and has been continuously funded by the Department of Energy since 1982. Candidates for the Distinguished Scholar Award are nominated by their departments and chosen by a committee of their peers, including several past recipients of the award. Distinguished Scholars receive a $3,000 honorarium and a research grant of $20,000 to be used over a three-year period.
physics.osu.edu
Hands-on physics fun
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LET THERE BE LIGHT: THE HIGH ENERGY DENSITY PHYSICS SCARLET LASER LAB Once the stuff of science fiction, today’s ultra-intense laser
systems are ultimate real-science powerhouses that take researchers lucky enough to have access to them where they could not go before.
No natural process on earth compares with table-top laser systems that produce star-like conditions; generating x-rays of such high energy and brightness, they can easily penetrate high-density matter. And, like high-speed cameras, the quick burst of x-rays could capture accurate images of complex biological molecules before they change, without destroying them.
Ohio State is one of only a handful of universities in the nation to have such a facility. SCARLET: the Science Center for Advanced Research on Lasers and Engineered Targets is just five years old. Senior laser scientist Enam Chowdhury designed the large laser system. The field of High Energy Density Physics (HEDP) itself is less than 20 years old. Ohio State’s HEDP group is led by physics faculty Rick Freeman, Linn Van Woerkom, and Douglass Schumacher. “We wanted to build a significant laser facility driven by scientific curiosity to educate and train students to be the next generation of laser scientists,” Linn Van Woerkom said. “Most large laser facilities are located within national labs with many priorities, concerned with national security, which often makes the logistics of performing experiments a bit challenging.” “I joined the High Energy Density Physics group because there is always exciting science happening,” graduate student Kevin George said. “Everyone
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is working on something different, which brings a really fresh, unique atmosphere to the group all the time. I like that I’m always learning something new.” While it’s fun to be in the laser room working on building and maintaining the laser or using the laser to irradiate a variety of engineered targets, much of the actual work is at the computer, examining the resulting radiation, fields, and particles that are generated in the reaction. “It is one thing to build a laser, and an entirely different thing to know what it can do. It’s not until you actually turn it on and run it that you know what you’ve really got,” Van Woerkom said. The group focuses on a series of
experiments using basic laser physics that will help advance breakthroughs in fusion energy, cancer therapy, and national security. Experiments in inertial confinement fusion, or ICF, are helping scientists understand the processes needed to control fusion to generate pollutionfree energy, a goal of physicists since the mid-1950s. “We’re looking at what actually happens when the laser hits material,” graduate student Scott Feister said. “This is the side of physics closest to applications in energy science, like fusion. I like to be on that edge of physics and I’d like to see this research go into application in my lifetime.” Proton-beam based experiments
Physics graduate students Scott Feister, Kevin George, Sheng Jiang, Chris Willis, and Doug Wertepny get ready for action in the SCARLET Laser Lab
WE WANTED TO BUILD A SIGNIFICANT LASER FACILITY DRIVEN BY SCIENTIFIC CURIOSITY TO EDUCATE AND TRAIN STUDENTS TO BE THE NEXT GENERATION OF LASER SCIENTISTS.
with the potential for cancer therapy examine the mechanisms of laser produced proton beams that could lead to a form of radiation therapy that can effectively reduce damage to surrounding healthy tissue when aiming for a tumor. Experiments in neutron and gamma ray sources explore how high energy gamma-rays and fast neutrons might unmask nuclear materials hidden in the billions of tons of materials crossing our borders daily. Currently, the usability of existing large ultra-intense laser systems is limited by their low repetition rate, hitting only several shots per day at most. {Continued on the next page.}
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Physics graduate students compare notes in the SCARLET Laser Lab
Therefore, work to design and build new devices to enhance the laser’s capabilities is a large part of graduate student training. Students and faculty are involved in the design and build up of the new 400 tera-watt system (400 million, million watts of peak power). Chris Willis, graduate student, who wants to “work for a laser company and design lasers for physicists after graduation,” designed its new amplifier. Douglas Wertepny, graduate student, works on diagnostics for the new laser system as well as research using highintensity lasers as a way to accelerate ions. Kevin George, graduate student, is developing an autocorrelator for short pulse width measurement. “Our ultimate goal is to run experiments consisting of hundreds of shots per day. This will provide greater clarity about what happens in ultra-intense light-matter interactions,” Van Woerkom said. Ohio State’s High Energy Density Physics group participates in a national consortium conducting experiments on the largest laser systems in the world. Research is funded by: U.S. Department of Energy; U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency; U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research hedp.osu.edu
CELEBRATING STUDENT SUCCESS GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE Both our undergraduate and graduate students compete with the best in the country – and win.
Earning top university and national awards, they go on to the world’s best graduate and postdoctoral research programs; and become high-achieving members of their fields.
Three Physics Undergraduates Receive 2011 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellowships Jake Connors, Lie-Wei Hung, and Tyler Merz each receive three years of funding for their graduate work.
Jake Connors presents his reasearch at Ohio State’s Denman Undergraduate Research Forum
Connors (June, 2011, physics) worked with faculty members Richard Hughes and Brian Winer on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and CDF at Fermilab projects. He attends Cornell University’s physics graduate program. Merz (June, 2011, engineering physics) focused on materials science and won a Churchill Scholarship. Hung (March, 2011, physics and astronomy) participated in summer programs at Ohio State, Harvard, and in Chile, and is now an astrophysics graduate student at Harvard University.
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Tyler Merz Named Churchill Scholar Given to 14 of the nation’s top students in the hard sciences, the Winston Churchill Scholarship pays for a one-year master’s program at Cambridge University. (Only one other has been awarded at Ohio State.) Merz also was a Goldwater Scholar in 2010. A first-generation college student, Merz credits Ohio State for “opening doors to possibilities for intellectual growth I did not know existed.” He had rich and varied research experiences: on campus, as an undergraduate research assistant at the Center for Emergent Materials; and abroad, in Germany, Brazil, and China. He will begin a PhD program in physics at Stanford University after completing the master’s program at Cambridge. His advice for other students: “Take advantage of every opportunity,
even if they seem small; they will lead to others. And follow your passions, because then everything else falls into place.”
Thomas Henighan Awarded Fulbright Scholarship Recognized as the top physics major in his class (2010), Henighan graduated with distinction in Engineering Physics. Henighan’s undergraduate research was done with Professor Sooryakumar developing a system which allows for controlled transport of biological cells on a surface with micron-resolution using magnetic forces. Awarded a 2010 Fulbright scholarship, he studied in the world-acclaimed research program at the University of Delft, Netherlands. He now attends Stanford University’s graduate physics program.
Two Graduate Students Receive NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Urszula Szafruga (faculty advisor Lou DiMauro) and Richelle Teeling (faculty advisor Chris Hammel) received 2011 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. The National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and provides three years of full support for outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported disciplines, who show promise of achieving high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers. Graduate student Andrea Albert (faculty advisors Brian Winer and Richard Hughes) received an honorable mention.
Adam Ahmed (right) and ASC Student Council President Sean Fitzpatrick. Graduate Student Receives Inaugural College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding GTA Award Physics graduate student Adam Ahmed received the first College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Graduate Associate Teaching Award. Members of the College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Student Council were in sole charge of the rigorous award process from start to finish. Ahmed was recognized at the College of Arts and Sciences Spring Recognition Reception at the Faculty Club, where he received a plaque and $500 award.
Richelle Teeling (left) and Urszula Szafruga (right)
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GIVING: MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN STUDENTS’ LIVES We are grateful for the support of our many friends who help us make a real difference in our students’ lives. 2011 Physics Undergraduate Summer Research Scholars Every summer, physics undergraduates have an opportunity to work in the leading-edge research labs of some of the country’s top physicists, made possible by the generosity of donors Robert P. Caren and Family, David C. DeMartini, Edward R. Grilly, Harold McMaster, Carl Nielsen, Alpheus W. and Adah B. Smith, Alva W. Smith, and Jack C. and Charlotte D. Smith. This summer’s Caren Scholars (Patrick Belancourt, Edward McCary, and Paul Schellin) DeMartini Scholars (Michael Bettencourt and Christian Schnaible) McMaster’s Scholars (Mitra Kinshuk and Aleksandr Shkayev) and Neilson Scholar (Mark Guseman) had a variety of unparalleled research experiences.
They joined the hunt: Third-year students Aleksandr Shkayev (left) and Christian Schnaible (right) sifted through data that could help find the universe’s most fundamental--and elusive—particle, the Higgs-boson. Advisors: Richard Hughes and Brian Winer
Live on the Edge: Fourth-year student Edward McCary (right) produced neutrons and made ions for fusion, while fourth-year student Patrick Belancourt (left) detected and characterized neutrons in the Laser Lab. Advisors Rick Freeman and Linn Van Woerkom
Tackle Math: Fourth-year student Mike Bettencourt solved and translated tricky math problems to make computers work better computationally. Advisor Richard Furnstahl
Learn about Life in the Lab: Thirdyear student Mark Guseman acquired precision and patience while slicing monolayers in Advisor Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin’s lab.
Test-drive Instruments for Antarctica: Third-year student Paul Schellin made and tested circuit boards that will help search for neutrinos in Antarctica. Advisor Amy Connolly
Track Relics from the Big Bang: Firstyear student Kinshuk Mitra wrested with what neutrinos can tell us about the life of the universe. Advisor Terry Walker
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NEW FACULTY
Mark S. Rudner We are pleased to announce an outstanding addition to our physics department faculty. Mark S. Rudner will join our Condensed Matter Theory Group, January 2012. Rudner received his PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University. Rudner explained his research as “focusing on mesoscopic physics, where fundamental theoretical questions about quantum mechanics on the boundary of the microscopic and macroscopic worlds can be explored in the context of a wide range of currently-available experimental systems.”
Amy Connolly Amy Connolly has two projects underway in Antarctica, searching for ultra-high energy neutrinos from cosmic sources using a radio detection technique. One flies on a balloon over the continent; the other is being deployed in the ice near the South Pole. Connolly joined the department nearly a year ago, attracted by Ohio State’s strong particle astrophysics group and the Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. “It’s a great department,” she said, “and everyone has been very supportive in helping me get settled and build up a research group. I really enjoy working with the undergraduate and graduate students. I have two graduate students now and am working with two undergraduates.” Connolly, who is the faculty advisor for Graduate Women in Physics, was involved with this year’s GRASP camp and is already at work with planning future camps.
Christopher Hill Christopher Hill is a member of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) collaboration, analyzing proton-proton collision data produced by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland. He is looking for evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model concentrating on potentially long-lived particles, such as gluinos. Hill has developed a novel detection scheme that makes these otherwise undetectable particles experimentally accessible. “Coming to Ohio State was a great opportunity for me to complement their well-established CMS group,” Hill said, “It is a great university with a great physics department. I am impressed with the extent and breadth of high-quality research going on around me and I enjoy working with my colleagues in the high-energy experiment and theory groups.” Hill oversees the work of three graduate students and one undergraduate student in his research group.
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DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS Physics Research Building 191 West Woodruff Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43210 (614) 292-5713
The Ultimate Discovery Machine: the Large Hadron Collider deep underground in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: Courtesy of CERN
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