January 17
Prof. Manijeh Razeghi, Center for Quantum Devices,
Northwestern University
Enabling Technology for the New Millennium: Toward
Atomic Scale
The history of semiconductor devices has been characterized
by a constant drive towards lower dimensions in order to increase integration
density, system functionality and performance. However, this is still far
from being comparable with the performance of natural systems such as human
brain. The challenges facing semiconductor technologies in the Millennium
will be to move towards atomic scale.
The influence
of this trend on the quantum sensing of infrared radiation is one example
that is elaborated here. A new generation of infrared detectors has been
developed by growing layers of different semiconductors with nanometer
thicknesses. The resulted bandgap engineered semiconductor has superior
performance compared to the bulk material. To enhance this technology
further, we plan to move fromquantum wells to quantum wire and quantum
dots.,and preliminary results as well as some of Highlight of III-V Nanotechnology
activity at Center for Quantum Devices will be presented.
Host: Grein
January 24
Dr. Prof. Helmut Claus, Materials Science Division,
Argonne National Laboratory
High Temperature Superconductors for Applications
Of all the high-temperature superconductors YBCO (YBa2Cu3O7)
is the most promising for industrial application. However, there are still
serious problems to overcome, before high-quality material for large scale
applications can be produced. I will discuss these problems and talk about
some of the progress made at Argonne National Laboratory in the last two
years in solving these difficulties.
Host: Marko
January 31
Prof. Greg Landsberg, Brown University
Out-of-this-World Physics: Probing Quantum Gravity
in the Lab
The search for large spatial extra dimensions is one
of the most exciting new opportunities in our quest for the electroweak
symmetry breaking mechanism. Existing high-energy colliders (LEP and Tevatron)
have already joined these searches and set constraints on the strength
of gravity at short range. New results from the Tevatron are going to be
reviewed. The most interesting opportunities in probing large extra dimensions
will become available with the next generation of hadron colliders: the
upgraded Tevatron and especially LHC, where the ultimate tests of the new
models of gravity will be done. I'll discuss various effects of large extra
dimensions that can be seen sought experimentally, existing limits on the
properties of space with large extra dimensions, new ideas in theory of
quantum gravity, as well as strategies and the reach of the next generation
of Cavendish type of experiments and accelerator searches.
Host: Varelas
February 7
Prof. Laurie Marks, Northwestern University
Direct Methods with Electrons at the Nanoscale
Numerous problems require knowing the detailed atomic
structure of nanomaterials with picometer resolution. A promising approach
to achieve this is using Direct Methods and Transmission Electron Microscopy.
This talk will focus on the successes, and failures of this new approach.
Host: Browning
February 14
NO COLLOQUIUM
Monday February 19, 330 pm, 2214 SES
Colloquium scheduled - attendance not required for
595 credit
Note special date, see posters for talk information
Host: Grein
February 21
Dr. Lloyd Demetrius, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical
Chemistry, Gottingen
Statistical Physics and Evolutionary Entropy
Evolution by mutation and natural selection in populations
of replicating organisms is characterised, when typical conditions prevail,
by a directionality principle: a uni-directional increase in evolutionary
entropy, a quantity that describes the uncertainty in the age of the mother
of a randomly chosen newborn in the population. This talk will discuss
1) the analytical basis of the principle; 2) its connection with the directionality
principle for thermodynamic entropy; 3)applications of the evolutionary
principle to the mortality plateaus in human populations.
Please that
Dr. Demetrius will be in the department on the 21st and 22nd, and will
give an informal technical seminar on the topic `Thermodynamics and
Kinetics of Protein Folding' at 300 pm on Thursday the 22nd, in 2620
SES.
Host: Marko
Monday February 26, 330 pm, 2214 SES
Colloquium scheduled - attendance not required for
595 credit
Note special date, see posters for talk information
Host: Grein
February 28
Colloquium scheduled - attendance required for 595
credit
See posters for talk information
Host: Marko
Monday March 5, 330 pm, 2214 SES
Colloquium scheduled - attendance not required for
595 credit
Note special data, see posters for talk information
Host: Grein
March 7
NO COLLOQUIUM
PHYSICS DEPARTMENT FACULTY MEETING
Thursday March 8, 330 pm, 2214 SES
Colloquium scheduled - attendance not required for
595 credit
Note special date, see posters for talk information
Host: Marko
March 14
NO COLLOQUIUM
SPRING BREAK
APS MARCH MEETING
Monday March 19, 330 pm, 2214 SES
Colloquium scheduled - attendance not required for
595 credit
Note special date, see posters for talk information
Host: Marko
March 21
Prof. Russell Betts, UIC
Current Experiments at RHIC
Abstract to be announced
Host: Varelas
March 28
Dr. Stephen Wolbers, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Computing as a Tool for High Energy and Nuclear Physics
Computing has been and continues to be an important tool
for High Energy and Nuclear Physics (HENP). Many areas of HENP are dependent
on computing. These include accelerator design and tuning, detector design
and detailed modeling, "triggering" of the detector to select interesting
collisions, data acquisition and storage, event reconstruction and analysis,
event simulation, and theory. This talk will examine each of these, with
an emphasis on data handling and analysis in the Run 2 experiments at Fermilab
and the RHIC experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Data sizes
are typically of the order of 1 Petabyte per year (1 Petabyte = 10E15 bytes).
Many techniques developed or used by HENP are common to many fields of
science and computing, including computer farms, Linux, and commodity computing
techniques. Analysis techniques and software from open source, other scientific
disciplines and commercial products are also in being used by HENP computing.
Finally, a discussion of some trends and concepts in HENP computing will
be given. This includes the idea of distributed computing, or GRIDs. The
next generation of HEP experiments are to run at the LHC collider at CERN
in 2005. The US ATLAS and US CMS computing projects will be described.
Host: Varleas
April 4
Prof. Alan Nathan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
When Ash Meets Cowhide: The Physics of the Baseball-Bat
Collision
For a baseball fan, there are few things more satisfying
than hearing that sharp distinctive crack of the bat, announcing that the
ball is on its way to the centerfield seats. For a physicist, there are
few things more satisfying than figuring out how something works? And for
a physicst who is also a baseball fan, it is pure ecstasy to have figured
out much of what is going on during that very brief instant of time when
ash meets cowhide. I will try to convey a bit of that excitement as I step
you through the kinematics and dynamics of the ball-bat collision. I will
address various practical issues from a physics point of view, such as
the ideal bat weight, the effect of a "juiced" baseball, the "sweet spot"
of the bat, the role of the batter during the collision, and the differences
between wood and aluminum bats. My goal that all who attend (from physics
novices to full professors) find something of interest in this talk, whether
it be baseball, physics, or the link between them.
Host: Varelas
Monday April 9, 330 pm, 2214 SES
Colloquium scheduled - attendance not required for
595 credit
Note special date, see posters for talk information
Host: Grein
April 11
Dr. John Womersley, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
The Experimental Search for the Origin of Mass
Through the action of gravity, mass is responsible forshaping
the universe. But where does it come from? Surprisingly, we
are close to being able to answer that question. Particle physics
experiments at Fermilab's Tevatron collider are about to pick up the search
for the Higgs particle. This is the quantum of a field which is believed
to permeate the universe and whose interaction with particles is what we
call "mass". I will describe the D0 detector which starts taking
data in March this year, and outline the Fermilab experimental program
and how it relates to understanding the universe.
Host: Varelas
April 18
Prof. Henry Ehrenreich, Harvard University
Thermoelectrics Revisited
The vision of commercial refrigerators having no moving
parts and powered by thermoelectrics produced frenzied research activities
during the '50s directed at finding appropriate semiconductor materials.
While in principle such devices can work at the Carnot efficiency, they
are in fact less efficient than present-day freon compressor refrigerators.
The advent of new anisotropic materials structures such as superlattices
and important technical applications to, for example, infrared detectors
has led to a revisit of thermoelectric cooling. This didactic talk will
survey thermoelectric phenomenology and some of the currently perceived
promises and problems.
Host: Grein
April 25
NO COLLOQUIUM
LAST WEEK OF CLASSES
PHYSICS DEPARTMENT FACULTY MEETING
If you are driving, you can park in any of the public parking lots. Parking Lot 4 at the northwest corner of Halsted and Taylor is most convenient, although occasionally full. Speakers should ask their hosts for a parking validation sticker.
If you are arriving at O'Hare International Airport, you can travel to UIC directly by subway (CTA Blue Line). This costs $1.50, and takes you from inside the airport to the UIC-Halsted CTA Station (at Halsted and Harrison), a few blocks north of the department, in about 50 minutes. Alternatives include taxi (roughly $30 to downtown Chicago), or the Airport Express limosine, which can take you to the Quality Inn at Madison and Halsted (1/2 mile north of campus) for about $15.
If you are arriving at Midway Airport which is southwest of UIC, subway travel is possible (Orange Line to downtown, then change to the Blue Line), but it is much faster to take a taxi ($20).
Map
of UIC East Campus North of Taylor Street (shows Parking Lot 4 and UIC-Halsted
CTA Station)
Map
of UIC East Campus South of Taylor Street (shows SES Building and alternate
public parking)
MapQuestWeb
Map of UIC Area (from www.mapquest.com)
