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Research

The Physics Faculty at Harvey Mudd College are engaged in a variety of original research activities in condensed matter physics, optics, geophysics, astronomy, general relativity, and string theory, all of which involve physics majors. Some of the research groups are individual faculty members leading a small team of undergraduates, and others are interdisciplinary efforts involving several faculty members and as many as 10 undergraduate researchers. All physics majors conduct a senior research project, or participate in a clinic research or development project, working with one or more faculty members. Many of these result in publications in peer-reviewed journals. A list of recent publications by members of the HMC physics department is available here.

                              

Optical Coherence Microscopy (OCM) is an experimental technique which measures the interference fringes caused by light from a single source traveling the same distance along two different optical paths. The OCM gathers information from the inside of the sample by focusing the beam spot (waist) at an equal path length position that is below the surface tissue layer and recording the intensity of directly back-scattered light. This is essentially a measure of the cross-sectional scattering area within a particular volume element. Multiply-scattered light from out-of-focus planes within the sample is filtered out by the coherence gate of our Michelson Interferometer setup, preserving high spatial resolution even within the sample. The OCM Schematic on this page illustrates the setup of the instrument, including the two separate optical paths, one consisting of a reference mirror, the other of the sample to be imaged. See the OCM page for more information.

courtesy of Richard Haskell

Research Interests of the Physics Faculty

 

  • Chih-Yung Chen — Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Solid-state physics, including electromagnetic and optical properties of high-temperature superconductors and semiconductors
  • Thomas D. Donnelly — Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley
    Experimental ultrafast physics and fluid dynamics
  • James C. Eckert — Ph.D., University of Southern California
    Magnetic materials and magnetic heterostructures
  • Adam Edwards — Ph.D., Stanford University
    Experimental particle physics
  • Ann Esin — Ph.D., Harvard University
    Theoretical astrophysics and observational astronomy
  • Richard C. Haskell — Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University
    Biophysics and biomedical optics, including imaging of biological tissue, optical coherence microscopy/tomography, developmental biology of plants and animals
  • Theresa W. Lynn — Ph.D., California Institute of Technology
    Quantum optics and atomic physics
  • Gregory A. Lyzenga — Ph.D., California Institute of Technology
    Geophysics, including observational study of crustal deformation and earthquakes using geodetic, seismological and gravimetric methods; computer simulation of tectonic processes. Solar system astronomy.
  • Peter N. Saeta — Ph.D., Harvard University
    Nonlinear optics, condensed matter, ultrafast phenomena
  • Vatche Sahakian — Ph.D., University of Chicago
    String theory
  • Patricia D. Sparks — Ph.D., Cornell University
    Solid state physics, including study of the optical properties of metals and interfaces
  • John S. Townsend — Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University
    Theoretical particle physics; quantum field theory