Applied Physics and Materials Science
The Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science unites two disciplines with a shared vision: to understand and control matter and light across multiple spatial and temporal scales, and to design new materials and devices with unprecedented functionality. Our faculty, postdoctoral scholars, graduate and undergraduate students, and researchers collaborate across nanoscience, photonics, quantum materials, and advanced materials synthesis and characterization — advancing discoveries that unite fundamental research with transformative technologies.
Research in the department spans an extraordinary breadth — from nanomechanics, nanophotonics, and optomechanics, to materials physics and chemistry, plasmonics, photonics, and device physics, to biophysics, mechanical properties of materials, additive manufacturing, nanofabrication, and the synthesis and characterization of quantum materials. This integrated approach empowers us to reveal the fundamental principles of how materials and emergent materials systems behave, and to build upon them to engineer breakthroughs in quantum science, energy technologies, biomedical applications, and beyond.
