Physics Opportunities

Research at the intersection of chemistry and physics, focusing on spectroscopy and nanomaterials.

Students will be involved in fabrication of magnetic multilayers and micrometer size pillars and study of their structural, magnetic and electric properties.

The prospective students will get familiar with fundamental concepts on subatomic particles, particle accelerators, radioactive/unstable beams and nuclei, radioactive decays, quantum mechanics, interaction of radiation with matter, nuclear instrumentation and detectors, computers and simulations, etc.

My research focuses on the theory of condensed matter systems and cold atom analogues of condensed matter systems which are out of equilibrium or in which disorder plays an important role. These studies involve a broad range of analytical and numerical techniques. There are currently opportunities to investigate: i) topological states in graphene and related Dirac materials that can arise due to strong magnetic fields and/or electron-electron interactions; ii) out of equilibrium dynamics in models of bosonic cold atoms, such as the Bose Hubbard model; iii) the interplay of magnetism and disorder in strongly correlated electron materials; and iv) transport measurements in organic superconductors.

Many models of physics beyond the Standard Model predict the existence of new particles that travel significant distances before decaying. In the high-energy physics experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), these so-called “long-lived particles” (LLPs) produce unconventional detector signatures that are challenging to identify and require specialized reconstruction techniques. To address these challenges, the ATLAS experiment employs a range of bespoke algorithms throughout the data processing chain. Recent advances in machine learning have revolutionized particle physics, significantly enhancing our ability to detect potential signs of new physics. This USRA project will focus on the development and application of cutting-edge machine learning algorithms to address one of two key challenges: 1) Reconstructing Displaced Tracks with Graph Neural Networks and Transformers: This project will explore using both Graph Neural Networks and transformers to identify displaced tracks with high efficiency. The work will involve generalizing existing machine learning-based tracking algorithms to reconstruct displaced tracks and comparing their performance to conventional algorithms. 2) Identifying LLP Signatures Using Anomaly Detection: LLP decays can produce highly unusual event signatures that may not fit any pre-defined search strategy. Anomaly detection techniques, which identify deviations from expected patterns, are a promising approach to uncover such events. This project will focus on developing unsupervised anomaly detection algorithms, such as variational autoencoders, to flag events that may correspond to LLP decays. Particular emphasis will be placed on ensuring robustness against detector defects and understanding the algorithm's sensitivity to different LLP models.

Profs. Corina Andreoiu and Chris Charles are looking for a motivated and curious student with an aptitude for hands-on experimental work, who will help design a quartz high-temperature oven for stable ion beam production for the Off-Line Ion Sources (OLIS) facility located at TRIUMF. This project is necessary to replace the commercially available ovens that are very expensive and can only be used for a single element, significantly reducing the cost associated with beam development. The new ovens will be used to produce stable isotope beams from nearly all elements with high intensity and reliability. The project will involve designing and building prototype ovens, testing with different stable element samples at the OLIS facility, and repeating those tasks to find an optimal oven design.

The generation of a negative He ion beam (35 keV) is being pursued for implantation applications by the semiconductor industry. Our approach is to send a focussed He+ ion beam through materials with low ionization energies and test their percentage electron uptake. The student will participate in the manufacture of nanomembranes, the measurement of their effects on electron uptake, and the simulation of ion beam optics and scattering propabilities.

Profs. Corina Andreoiu and Chris Charles are looking for a motivated and curious student who will develop a tin (Sn) ion beam at the Off-Line Ion Sources (OLIS) facility located at TRIUMF. Tin is element 50 in the periodic table, has 50 protons and that makes it an extra stable (magic) nucleus. Tin has the largest number of stable isotopes (10!) and this fact makes it one of the most studied isotopes. Having an intense and reliable tin beam is essential to perform fundamental nuclear structure experiments at TRIUMF. For example, we can accelerate a tin ion beam to velocities of 3-5% of the speed of light and collide it with carbon targets to study new nuclei produced in that reaction. The project will involve characterizing Sn+ emission from a dedicated oven heater inside the ion source, as a function of temperature and supporting gas bled into the ion source. The goal is to find optimal source parameters to produce beams of Sn isotopes for fundamental nuclear structure research.

Our group uses time-domain terahertz spectroscopy to determine the terahertz-frequency conductivity of semiconductors, metals, and superconductors. With this information we can experimentally determine the mobility of semiconductors, the carrier scattering lifetimes of metals, and the superfluid density of superconductors. Generally, we try to choose materials that are not well understood within the current frameworks of condensed matter physics, particularly metals in which magnetic fluctuations play a role in determining the electrical conductivity. An NSERC USRA would take on the responsibility for measuring the temperature-dependent terahertz conductivity of one or two materials that we are studying, and analyze the resulting data in light of current condensed matter theory. Materials currently under study include the high temperature superconductors LSCO and YBCO, as well as the low-temperature superconductor TiN.

Our research group studies unconventional superconductivity in materials such as cuprate high temperature superconductors, heavy fermion systems, organics and ruthenates. On the experimental side, we use microwave spectroscopy to measure superfluid density and quasiparticle dynamics and to look for order parameter collective modes and states that break time reversal symmetry. On the theoretical side, we carry out phenomenological studies of these systems using models based on realistic parameterizations of electronic structure and disorder potentials. We then use Greens function techniques to calculate experimental properties such as superfluid density and optical conductivity, allowing us to compare with experiment. The goal of the project will be to carry out a complete investigation of a particular unconventional superconductor, using our powerful and easy-to-use dilution fridge system. The student will have the opportunity to work on subprojects that include some or all of the following: theory of superconductivity and correlated electron systems; mechanical design and construction of low temperature apparatus; microwave electronics and signal processing; experiment automation and data acquisition; and data analysis and modelling.

All living organisms face several fundamental physical challenges in their everyday existence. Among these are: the maintenance of order despite the propensity of everything to eventually get messy (a.k.a., the Second Law of Thermodynamics); and the performance of mechanically demanding tasks with the incredibly jiggly materials at hand (a.k.a., proteins). My group’s theoretical and computational biophysics research focuses on determining in this context the design principles for effective operation of molecular machines (proteins that convert between different forms of energy, but are 100 million times smaller than the car engines that engineers already know how to design). More specifically: what are the physical limits on how well these machine can operate; what kinds of designs achieve these limits; and (in collaboration with experimentalists) do real, evolved biomolecular machines actually conform with these theoretical predictions? We have a few projects (either working independently or in collaboration with a graduate student or postdoc) that involve computational simulation of the behavior of model molecular machines, such as ATP synthase (an ingenious crankshaft that makes the basic chemical currency in all living things) and kinesin (an equally ingenious bipedal ‘walker’ that transports cargos along the cytoskeletal tracts that criss-cross every cell). With this simulation data we can examine the soundness and usefulness of recently developed theoretical frameworks (our own and others’) to understand how molecular machines can maximize their miles per gallon. A successful summer would produce theoretical ideas to be tested in later experiments, and (with some follow-up during the next school year) would produce a paper for publication. The day-to-day work involves writing computer programs to simulate dynamics (typically in Python, Matlab, or C/C++, but we are flexible), debugging (sad but true) and testing your programs to make sure they do what you intend, and analyzing the data you generate.

The Forde lab specializes in molecular biophysics, specifically focused on the relationship between chemical composition and mechanical properties of biological macromolecules. We utilize a range of techniques from physics, chemistry and biochemistry to manipulate and characterize these systems. This project focuses on collagen, the predominant structural protein building block of our connective tissues and extracellular matrices. In spite of its key importance to our physiology and health, and its wide use in a variety of biomaterials, fundamental questions remain unanswered regarding its structure and mechanics at the molecular level. Summer projects focus on characterizing the mechanics of this protein at the single-molecule level, using the imaging technique of atomic force microscopy (AFM) or with a high-throughput force spectroscopy technique, centrifuge force microscopy (CFM), both established techniques in our lab. Alternative project possibilities may involve instrumentation design and calibration of new microscopy and force spectroscopy instruments, and/or development of new image analysis algorithms.

The laser applications group at TRIUMF - Canada's particle accelerator centre - provides intense beams of radioactive isotopes for user experiments. This is done by using element selective resonant laser ionization. To this end we investigate the relevant atomic states, i.e. Rydberg and autoionizing states in the elements of interest. Students will be introduced to atomic physics and laboratory principles, instrumentation, and techniques to conduct laser resonance ionization spectroscopy on an element of interest (current elements of interest: Hg, Ga, Au, Bi) at our laser ion source test stand facility. Data taking and data evaluation will close off the research project - which aims to identify new ionization schemes with improved efficiency. In parallel, students will experience research at a large scale user facility for nuclear and particle physics, and will be embedded in the TRIUMF undergarduate and coop-student program training, seminar and lecture series. Research will be conducted at TRIUMF's Isotope Separator and Accelerator facility, located on the UBC campus in Vancouver.

Feedback can regulate the temperature of our homes or our bodies, the flow of fluid in a pipe, drive autonomous cars on a road, and more. But there are more creative uses, too: we can use feedback to create entire new dynamics for particles. Placing a small silica bead in water in a “virtual potential” created by a feedback loop gives us nearly complete freedom to implement what had been only thought experiments: Maxwell’s demon, Szilard’s engine, Landauer’s bit erasure, and more. At SFU, we have several setups for exploring such questions. Previous undergraduate students who have visited the lab have worked on projects ranging from the technical development of new techniques for trapping to new ideas for controlling effective damping (dissipation) to new versions of the classic thought experiments described above. We also explore new ways to make the control of systems more “robust”. Depending on your interests and experience, you can work on a project that will be interesting, challenging, and fun.

Zinc oxide is a semiconducting material that is under active investigation for a variety of potential applications including visible and UV LEDs and laser diodes, UV optical detectors, gas sensors, etc. Recently it has been shown that donor spins in ZnO can be optically addressed as possible quantum bit (qubits). In order to investigate the feasibility of this approach we are studying the growth of single nanowires as a platform to ultimately address a single donor spin. The candidate will assist in the growth of ZnO nanowires and their characterization by optical techniques as well as electron microscopy.

We have known the laws of quantum mechanics for nearly a century, however we have yet to fully harness these physical processes to build quantum technologies. Quantum technologies such as physically-encrypted quantum communications (as opposed to todays computationally-encrypted schemes such as RSA), and powerful quantum computers (able to exponentially outperform todays computers at specific key tasks) are still under construction. The worldwide race is on. Our lab is working to build these technologies using silicon, the very material used for modern CMOS semiconductor chips. Not only is this to benefit from the large and highly successful semiconductor industry - one could readily imagine a quantum co-processor - it is also the material of choice because the quantum bits embedded in silicon are arguably the best solid-state quantum bits ("qubits") available. Our team aims to link silicon spin qubits using photons by using carefully engineered integrated photonic circuits in silicon. There is a lot to do, and there are a number of projects that motivated students could fit into a summer which will hopefully lead to a publication. Particular projects will be chosen to match the capabilities and interests of the successful USRA applicant(s). These projects could include a selection from: Software (simulation and application of quantum algorithms, development of our quantum control software package) Hardware (engineering of custom cryogenic quantum equipment able to deliver pulsed and CW optical, microwave and radio quantum-control signals to the qubits, qubit measurement tools) Design (integrated photonic circuit simulation, design, testing and analysis, chip screening, fabrication, and quality assurance).

We are currently testing first test structure of novel 4D detectors, which are silicon based tracking detectors with extremely good timing resolution (pico seconds) and very good spatial resolution (micro-meters). These sensors will be needed for future collider experiments like the 100km Future Circular Collider at CERN but will also find application in other areas of fundamental physics like medical imaging, material science and possibly neutrino physics. The research will take place in SFU's newly built particle physics detector lab, SFU's 4D lab and at TRIUMF.

Quantum materials are being widely explored for their novel and fascinating electronic, magnetic and optical properties that emerge from underlying exotic collective properties of electrons, and are already leading to innovative technologies and advanced applications. The use of the muon as a sensitive local probe of internal magnetic fields through a collection of techniques known as muon spin rotation/relaxation/resonance (µSR) has evolved into a powerful research tool for the study of quantum materials. This project primarily involves µSR studies of quantum materials (e.g., superconductors, topological insulators, magnetically-frustrated heavy fermion systems) at TRIUMF's Centre for Molecular and Materials Science. Between scheduled experiments, preliminary sample characterization and data analysis will be worked on at SFU.

This undergraduate research position is at Quantum Photonic Laboratory led by Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) Prof. Thomas Jennewein at SFU’s Department of Physics. The group’s focus is to build Canada’s first quantum network in Metro Vancouver. As part of our effort, we are conducting outdoor experiments with flying qubits in satellite communication channels to assess the impact of air turbulence in degrading time-bin entangled photons. Another area of research focuses on development of quantum light sources that are incorporated in photonic integrated circuits based on lithium niobate, as part of quantum repeater nodes in a quantum network. We are also developing metasurfaces (engineered nanophotonic structures for controlling light-matter interaction) to develop the next generation of photodetectors. The undergrad researchers will also have the chance to be mentored by Prof. Jennewein and learn more about quantum communication and quantum networking protocols. Job Descriptions: UG 1 - Assist building the Quantum Photonic Laboratory - Assist the Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF) in building photonic probe station used for characterizing quantum photonic waveguides - Assist the PDF in characterizing optical and photonic test setups - Assist the PDF in testing photonic integrated circuits UG 2 - Assist building the Quantum Photonic Laboratory - Assist and participate in outdoor testing of quantum link between SFU Burnaby campus and Cypress Mountain - Assist graduate students in preparation for outdoor testing or in lab testing UG 3 - Assist building the Quantum Photonic Laboratory - Assist graduate students with modeling of semiconductor metasurfaces using Ansys Lumerical FDTD solver (no prior experience is required) - Support theoretical investigation of metasurface perfect absorbers

The Group The SFU experimental particle physics group (hep.phys.sfu.ca) currently consists of four faculty (Matthias Danninger, Dugan O'Neil, Bernd Stelzer, and Mike Vetterli), four postdoctoral fellows, and 7 graduate students. We are actively involved in the ATLAS experiment and have openings for ATLAS students this summer. The ATLAS Experiment: This experiment is running at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva (atlas.ch). The accelerator is colliding 2 beams of 6.5 TeV protons in order to study, among other things, the mechanism of electro-weak symmetry breaking. The biggest physics breakthrough of 2012 has been the discovery of the Higgs boson by the ATLAS and CMS experiments. Our group contributed to the this milestone discovery and is very active in determining other properties of the Higgs boson. In the past 5 years, our group has helped determine the spin/CP properties of the Higgs boson and identified two additional Higgs boson production modes (VBF and ttH production). Most of these measurements were enabled by the use of advanced analysis techniques (Matrix Element Method, Machine Learning). We are also searching for phenomena that cannot be explained by the Standard Model of particle physics. Such phenomena would point the way to new theories that would extend the already impressive predictions of the Standard Model. Looking to the future, our group has taken on substantial responsibility in the development of the New ATLAS Inner Tracking detector (ITk) increasing the number of space points measurements 50-fold. We are leading the ITk activities in Western Canada, developing ITk silicon detector modules in cleanroom facilities at SFU and TRIUMF. Summer Projects on ATLAS at SFU: In your summer project, you will be able to contribute to determining the properties of the Higgs boson. In particular, we analyze the data that show evidence of Higgs boson decays to two massive W bosons. We are developing novel analysis techniques to increase the sample of Higgs events that lead recently to the first observation of VBF production in H-->WW event using the full LHC Run-2 dataset. We are adding additional physics interpretations to existing results.

TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC is building a next-generation source of ultracold neutrons (UCN). These very slow (5 m/s) neutrons are an ideal laboratory to study fundamental interactions and symmetries. The flagship experiment with ultracold neutrons is the search for the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the neutron, which has intrigued researchers worldwide for decades. A non-zero EDM implies a time-reversal (T) violation, and thus a charge-parity (CP) violation if CPT holds. CP is an essential ingredient in prevailing models to explain the apparent matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe. The TUCAN collaboration is also developing a spectrometer to search for the neutron EDM. A USRA student can significantly contribute to the commissioning, experiments and data analysis of the cryogenic UCN source at TRIUMF and to the development of the EDM experiment. We are providing a stimulating research environment in a group that includes 4 post-docs, 5 graduate students, typically 3-4 undergraduate students, 2 senior researchers, 2 engineers and a technician.

Our group is focused on the discovery and synthesis of novel materials with unusual magnetic and electronic ground states as well as the coupling between them. We are particularly interested in, however not limited to, magnetism, superconductivity, and quantum criticality. Our research is more fundamental than applicable. Why is this important? Materials synthesis is a milestone, to a certain extent, because it provides objects to any further studies. If new compounds are synthesized, new properties could be found, leading towards new directions of research. Exploratory synthesis of materials and their characterizations contribute to building a large body of knowledge. Fundamental research and materials discovery ultimately affects the strength of industry and therefore the economy. From the earliest days of condensed matter physics to the latest 21st century initiatives, the pioneering ideas and technologies of materials physics have transformed every aspect of society. Nature has many surprises and has provided an abundance of exotic properties for researchers in structurally complex materials. The exploration of phase-spaces will reveal more unexpected phenomena. The student will synthesize a range of magnetic and electronic materials, and characterize the grown samples by means of XRD, magnetization, electrical resistivity, and specific heat measurements.

The quest to develop a fundamental understanding of the nuclear interaction is aided greatly through measurements made with complex, multi-detector systems. As these systems allow for both an increase in total efficiency due to greater angular coverage as well as correlation measurements in both time and space, the information which can be probed using these detectors is greatly increased over single-detector systems. With an increase in both number of detectors and complexity of detector systems comes challenges in data acquisition. As each detector can obtain data independently, the required throughput of the data acquisition system also increases. To address this problem, real-time event filtering can be performed on the data to only process and store events with certain characteristics. Traditional methods for event filtering require large arrays of electronics to perform logic on unprocessed data, which can be both cost and space prohibited for small laboratories in addition to being difficult to scale to larger systems. At the Nuclear Science lab at SFU, we implement a single unit, computer controlled XLM72S universal logic module to perform real-time event filtering. Specifically, the XLM72S logic module has been implemented in the data acquisition system for the CUBE spectrometer, a detector system consisting of 6 Compton Suppressed Spectrometers at the faces of a cube. The USRA student will be working to maintain, optimize, and operate both the event filtering and CUBE detector systems in order to perform experiments. The student will develop and utilize skills in gamma ray spectroscopy, data acquisition, and general nuclear physics.

We have openings for motivated students interested in gaining experience in research in the area of experimental nuclear physics. Our projects use radiation detectors to study the nuclear decays of various beams to investigate nuclei with an unbalanced number of protons and neutron that are created in laboratory.

The `strange’ behavior of quantum mechanics provides exceptional opportunities for humanity to build much more powerful devices. There have been many ideas of using quantum physics to make computers faster, communication more secure, sensors more sensitive, and many more. Our group focuses on a particular type of quantum devices that built with harmonic oscillators, such as light, quantum motion, a large collection of spins, etc. Through theoretical investigations, we want to look for the origins of problems in currently imperfect quantum devices, and explore strategies to get rid of the problems. USRA projects are expected to be sub-projects from graduate students' research in my group. However, students are also welcome to bring in topics and develop the research project together with me.