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Research Areas
Below you will find descriptions of the research activities at Simon Fraser University. For each area shown, there is a description of that area and links to the associated groups and faculty members. Please browse the web pages. You will find opportunities in every research field in our department. Feel free to contact any faculty member if you want information about the group, its activities, focus, and recent successes. If you would like departmental information, contact the Graduate Program Assistant.
Biophysics / Soft Matter
The SFU Physics Department has a strong, broad program in biological and soft matter physics. Our program is one of the oldest and perhaps best developed in Canada, with a mix of researchers at various stages of their careers. We host weekly seminars, ranging from local speakers from various departments to international experts to journal club talks. Our graduate students co-organize a popular annual regional workshop (Frontiers of Biophysics) jointly with UBC. All of this activity helps create an unusually interactive group of researchers. Areas of particular expertise include studies of lipid and related systems, ion-conducting polymers, molecular motors, single-molecule biophysics, protein mechanics, systems biology, and development of new biophysics techniques. There are strong overlaps with statistical physics and materials physics, and many links to neighbouring departments (Chemistry, Biology, MBB, and Engineering).
Associated Groups & Faculty
| Research Group | Faculty | Areas of Interest |
|---|---|---|
| Bechhoefer Group |
John Bechhoefer |
Biophysics and soft condensed matter |
| Emberly Research Group |
Eldon Emberly | Computational biology |
| Forde Lab | Nancy Forde | Molecular biophysics |
| Frisken Lab | Barbara Frisken | Soft matter systems |
| J. Thewalt Research Group | Jenifer Thewalt | Membrane structure and dynamics |
| Sivak Group |
David Sivak |
Theoretical/computational biophysics |
Condensed Matter Physics
This interdisciplinary field touches on many aspects of physics and has strong overlap with chemistry and engineering science. Physicists have always been at the forefront of the study of new materials and this has led both to a fundamental understanding of their properties as well as revolutionary applications. Examples of materials studied at SFU include novel superconductors, graphene, semiconductor nanostructures, as well as soft materials (see Soft Matter Physics area). Materials research in the physics department includes both fundamental theory studies, as well as strong efforts in the growth and characterization of new materials or novel methods for fabrication and analyzing their electrical, structural and optical properties. Materials researchers make heavy use of the interdisciplinary materials fabrication facilities at 4D LABS, which includes a wide range of tools for the formation of new materials, as well as their fabrication into devices, and a suite of electron microscopy probes to assess structural and electrical properties.
Associated Groups & Faculty
| Research Group | Faculty | Areas of Interest |
|---|---|---|
| Broun Lab |
David Broun |
Electrodynamics and phenomenology of unconventional superconductors and metals |
| Dodge Group |
J. Steven Dodge | Quantum matter and nonlinear optics |
| Emerging Materials Lab | Eundeok Mun | Design and synthesis of novel materials, magnetism, superconductivity, quantum criticality |
| Herbut Research Group | Igor Herbut | Quantum condensed matter theory |
| Kavanagh Lab | Karen Kavanagh | Nanoscience and interfaces |
| Kennett Research Group |
Malcolm Kennett |
Quantum condensed matter theory |
| MOCVD Research Laboratory | Simon Watkins | Semiconductor growth |
| Sillicon Quantum Technology | Stephanie Simons, Michael Thewalt | Hybrid spin/photon quantum devices |
| Sonier Research Group | Jeff Sonier | Superconductivity and quantum materials |
| Surface Science Laboratory | Erol Girt, Brett Heinrich | Thin film magnetism |
Particle Physics / Cosmology
SFU Physics has active research programs in High Energy Physics (HEP) and Cosmology with undergraduate and graduate research opportunities in both.
The members of the experimental High Energy Physics group at SFU (O'Neil, Stelzer, Vetterli) are playing leading roles in the CERN-based ATLAS collaboration which has recently announced the discovery of the long-sought Higgs boson — the most significant discovery in particle physics in almost 40 years. As well as leading analysis efforts for some of the important Higgs “observation channels”, and some searches for exotic new physics, the SFU group has been instrumental in preparing the detector for these results (e.g. energy calibration, identification algorithms, data quality monitoring). The SFU group has also led major computing projects, in particular the ATLAS-Canada Tier-1 Data Centre, helping to develop the international computing grid to analyze the huge amount of data produced by ATLAS.
The Cosmology group (Frolov, Pogosian) combines theoretical research with active involvement in testing theory against existing observational data and developing new tests for future experiments. Pogosian's work concerns a broad range of topics including dark energy, modified gravity, topological defects and cosmological magnetic fields, with the focus on new ways of testing them against observations of cosmic microwave background and large scale structure. Theoretical and numerical tools developed by his group are actively used by ESA's Planck satellite science team and in planning of ESA's upcoming Euclid space telescope. Frolov studies black holes and gravitational collapse in both conventional and modified theories of gravity. He has work extensively on inflationary cosmology and methods for searching for non-Gaussian properties in the cosmic microwave background, and is a member of the Planck team.
Associated Groups & Faculty
| Research Group | Faculty | Areas of Interest |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmology |
Andrei Frolov, Levon Pogosian | Origin, composition and evolution of the universe |
| High Energy Physics |
Matthias Danninger, Dugan O'Neil, Bernd Stelzer, Michel Vetterli | Particle physics experiment |
Quantum Information/Atomic, Molecular, Optical Physics
QI/AMO is a subfield of Physics that involves the study of atoms, molecules, electrons, and light, and their various interactions. Historically it encompassed the experiments and ideas that underpin quantum mechanics, and led to the development of the laser and the standardization of time. Today it pushes the limits of knowledge on many fronts including the study of atoms at ultra-low temperatures, many-body effects, quantum degeneracy, and precision measurements of fundamental interactions. The superior controllability of AMO systems also makes them the forefront platforms to realize quantum information processors, which represent and manipulate information as quantum states. Quantum information and related technologies can offer dramatic performance improvement over current devices based on classical physics in countless applications including computing, sensing, and communications. This is expected to spark the next technological revolution.
SFU Physics has research programs and research opportunities in both AMO and Quantum Information, with programs ranging from studying fundamental physics of interacting atoms to developing silicon technologies and algorithms for quantum information processing. Paul Haljan’s research focuses on quantum state manipulation of trapped ions and technology development for trapped ion quantum computing. Jeff McGuirk’s research is more generally concerned with the study of quantum degeneracy and quantum dynamics in systems of ultra-cold trapped atoms. Stephanie Simmons is building quantum technologies using silicon, a material that arguably hosts the best quantum bits (‘qubits’) in the industry. Kero Lau theoretically studies the properties of engineered quantum systems (e.g. trapped ions, photonics, optomechanics) and explores their applications in quantum information processing. Complementary research programs can be found in the group led by Malcolm Kennett (many-body physics with ultra-cold atoms). Adjunct AMO faculty include Jens Lassen (TRIUMF; laser ion source spectroscopy) and Mohammad Amin (DWave; quantum computation).
Associated Groups & Faculty
| Research Group | Faculty | Areas of Interest |
|---|---|---|
| Haljan Group |
Paul Haljan |
Trapped ion quantum computing |
| Hayden Group |
Mike Hayden | Magnetic resonance and prescision atomic measurement |
| Kennett Research Group | Malcolm Kennett | Quantum condensed matter theory |
| McGuirk Group | Jeff McGuirk | Atomic physics, and Bose-Einstein condensates |
| RIS Group | Jens Lassen | Resonant ionization spectroscopy group |
| Silicon Quantum Technology |
Stephanie Simons, Mike Thewalt | Hybrid spin/photon quantum devices |
| Theoretical Quantum Information Science |
Kero Lau | Theoretical quantum optics/information |
Theory
Theoretical Physics research at SFU is concerned with gaining insight into the properties of matter from sub-atomic length scales to the scale of the universe itself, and with understanding the properties of novel materials and biological systems. Theorists at SFU collaborate with other theorists, and with experimentalists at SFU, within Canada and internationally, to understand and explain their data and make predictions for future experiments. These efforts encompass all of the research areas of the department: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (Malcolm Kennett, Kero Lau), Condensed Matter Physics (Igor Herbut, and Malcolm Kennett), Cosmology (Andrei Frolov, Levon Pogosian, and Andrew DeBenedictis), and Biophysics / Soft Matter (Eldon Emberly and David Sivak). The groups use a wide range of techniques, including quantum field theory, statistical mechanics and extensive numerical simulations using high performance computing. There are research opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
Associated Groups & Faculty
| Research Group | Faculty | Areas of Interest |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmology | Andrei Frolov, Levon Pogosian | Origin, composition and evolution of the universe |
| Emberly Research Group |
Eldon Emberly | Computational biology |
| Herbut Research Group | Igor Herbut | Quantum condensed matter theory |
| Kennett Research Group |
Malcolm Kennett |
Quantum condensed matter theory |
| Sivak Group | David Sivak | Theoretical/computational biophysics |
| Theoretical Quantum Information Science | Kero Lau | Theoretical quantum optics/information |