Graduate Research in Physics - Overview

Physics students at ANU have access to some of Australia's most important installations, such as the only heavy-ion accelerator and centre for nuclear research, a large Heliac for study of plasma confinement and controlled fusion research, and high intensity lasers, which are some of the most powerful used for nonlinear optics.

Facilities and expertise are available in the Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, and the Departments of Physics and Theoretical Physics and The Department of Engineering. The professional research staff, numbering over 100, maintain regular contact with leading national and international laboratories as well as involvement with two Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence: Quantum-Atom Optics (AQAO) and the Centre for Ultrahigh Bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS); and Cooperative Research Centres: the Centre for Functional Communication Surfaces.

Major research interests include nuclear structure; nuclear dynamics; exotic nuclei; processing, modification and characterisation of material, particularly semi-conductors; ion implantation; growth of epitaxial crystal layers; studies of membranes and molecular structures; the physics and chemistry of surfaces; the interaction of electrons with atoms, molecules, and solids; vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy of molecular gases; magnetic confinement of plasmas in toroidal devices; the motion of waves in plasmas; research and development of low-density plasmas for industrial processing; solitons; nonlinear optics; virtual circuitry; atom optics; laser spectroscopy; photonics; novel optical materials; theoretical condensed matter; theoretical nuclear physics; plasma physics; statistical mechanics; nonlinear dynamics; hyper-velocity aerodynamics; global aspects of mental processing; theoretical studies of the transmission of light along optical fibres; the design of specific fibres and optical fibre devices for communication and sensing.

Research degrees offered:

PhD
MPhil