News

Robert McQueeney awarded inaugural John and Mary Weaver Professorship

Faculty member Robert McQueeney has been named the inaugural John and Mary Weaver Professor of Physics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The professorship gives special recognition and support to an outstanding faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, with preference given to scientists specializing in condensed matter physics. 

ISU researcher Iadecola part of team that demonstrated "braiding" of light

The controlled manipulation of exotic quasiparticles known as anyons, a process known as “braiding,” is the basis of a powerful computational paradigm known as topological quantum computing.

Orth receives 2020 RSCA Cottrell Scholar Award

Assistant Professor Peter P.

Canfield elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Paul Canfield, who designs and discovers new materials and properties, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Fei receives NSF CAREER award

Zhe Fei, assistant professor of physics, received an NSF CAREER grant for a proposal titled “Exploring chiral edge plasmons in novel two-dimensional materials.” The estimated total award amount is $588,818.

New hire within recently started Faculty Cluster in Computational and Theoretical Physics

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Thomas Iadecola to the condensed matter physics group in our department.  He received his PhD from Boston University under the supervision of Prof.

Condensed Matter Group at ISU part of new Center for Advancement of Topological Semimetals (CATS) lead by Ames Laboratory

Condensed Matter Physics faculty members participate in the new DOE Center for the Advancement of Topological Semimetals (CATS) that was recently established.

Theory Cluster Hire

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Iowa State University (ISU) seeks candidates for faculty positions at a junior level for a cluster of positions in theoretical physics and astrophysics. 

Ames Lab researchers awarded DOE funding for Quantum Information Science project

Scientists at Ames Laboratory will develop a hybrid quantum and classical computational tool to calculate the properties of quantum materials such as superconductors and rare-earth compounds, funded by an award for $600,000 per year for three year

Prozorov group's paper in Nature Communications Top 50 most read articles

An article published by Iowa State University Professor and Ames Laboratory researcher Ruslan Prozorov and his group -- "Using controlled disorder to probe the interplay between charge order and superconductivity in N

Physicists use light waves to accelerate supercurrents, enable ultrafast quantum computing

A team lead by Iowa State Professor and Ames Laboratory Researcher Jigang Wang demonstrated that THz light can be used to control some of the essential quantum properties of superconducting states, including macroscopic supercurrent

Ames Lab physicist Vladimir Kogan recognized with 2019 Abrikosov Prize

Ames Laboratory Scientist Vladimir Kogan was awarded the Abrikosov Prize in Vortex Matter today at the International Workshop on Vortex Matter in Superconductors, at a ceremony in Antwerp, Belgium.

2D insulators with ferromagnetic properties are rare; collaborating researchers from ISU, Brookhaven and Princeton just identified a new one

Collaborating scientists at the U.S.

Alan Goldman wins the 2019 Marie Dubois Award for Excellence in Quasicrystal Research

Congratulations to Alan Goldman for winning the Marie Dubois Award for Excellence in Quasicrystal Research.

Soukoulis named National Academy of Inventors 2018 Fellow

Costas M. Soukoulis, Ames Laboratory senior scientist and Iowa State University Frances M. Craig Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor, has been named as a 2018 National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow.

"A nanovolcano array": CMP research from ISU and Ames Laboratory Scientists featured in Physics Today

Recent research of Ames Lab Scientist and ISU Professor Rana Biswas together with colleagues from Engineering Departments on nanostructures  has been featured in this month's Physics Today - May 2018 - volume 5, 

Missing link to novel superconductivity revealed

Scientists at Ames Laboratory have discovered a state of magnetism that may be the missing link to understanding the relationship between magnetism and unconventional superconductivity.

Bazinga! Canfield group grows new ternary compound BaZnGa, inspired by "Big Bang Theory"

The catchphrase "Bazinga!" - a zinger commonly uttered by Dr. Sheldon Cooper, a fictional theoretical physicist on the famous TV show "The Big Bang Theory" - has inspired the creation of a novel ternary compound BaZnGa by Paul C.

CMP group researchers win W.M. Keck Foundation grant to develop nanoscope

Jigang Wang, Zhe Fei, Paul C. Canfield and Costas Soukoulis are working to build a powerful instrument capable of exploring and tuning materials in ways that could help solve the world’s energy, information processing and data storage needs.

Canfield awarded James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials by the American Physical Society

Iowa State University physicist Paul Canfield, who develops new materials with novel properties, has received a five-year, $1.7 million Moore Materials Synthesis Investigators award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation of Palo Alto