Physics
Seminars in Spring 2012
All seminars are held at 4:10 PM in Bio 19, unless otherwise noted.
Refreshments will be served at 4:00 PM.
Upcoming Seminar
February 8, 2012
Shannon O’Leary, Lewis and Clark College
Using Noise from Transparency to Measure Magnetic Fields
| Jan 25 | Max Schlosshauer, Austrian Academy of Sciences The Elusive Quantum Quantum theory is a marvelous intellectual achievement. From atoms to stars, from lasers to transistors, the theory's predictive power seems unlimited. But why are quantum phenomena mostly observed in microscopic systems? How does the macroscopic, "classical" world of our everyday experience relate to, or emerge from, the underlying quantum structure? These are deep questions, and people have puzzled over them since quantum theory's birth. Only in the past two decades have we found an answer (or at least a partial one). In this talk, I will tell you about this answer and about my own work on it. Theory, experiments, and concepts will be equally mentioned, and no prior knowledge of quantum theory will be required. |
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| Feb 1 | Nick Tufillaro, OSU Looking at Oregon’s waters from above -- not just below. What can you learn by focusing on water from a spectrometer in earth orbit? What lurks behind the hues of Oregon’s water colors -- plankton, sediments, and crushed leafs all afloat? Can we see any of these from space? And if we can, so what? I’ll describe efforts to look at the quality of water in Oregon’s lakes, reservoirs, and coastal ocean from space. I will show dramatic events like plankton forming surface blooms tens of kilometers in size, making colorful swirls that are easily seen from space. I will also describe a bit of the physics behind 'HICO' (Hyper-spectral Imager of the Coastal Ocean), and MERIS (MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer), two spectrometers that pass over Oregon from low earth orbit almost daily, and how we are using them to track harmful algal blooms in Oregon’s water. |
| Feb 8 | Shannon O’Leary, Lewis and Clark College Using Noise from Transparency to Measure Magnetic Fields In this experimental atomic optics talk, I will introduce a light-matter interaction called Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) which causes an otherwise opaque material to become transparent over a small frequency range via a quantum interference process. Using a noise correlation technique with a single “noisy” or wide-linewidth laser, I will show that laser intensity noise derived from EIT contains spectroscopic information about the quantum dynamics of an atomic vapor. Further, this EIT noise can be highly sensitive to magnetic field, making it an ideal mechanism on which to base a new class of compact and simple atomic magnetometers. Because high-sensitivity magnetometers measure the strength and/or direction of a magnetic field, advancement in magnetometer technology can have a profound impact on a diverse array of scientific fields and medical applications. |
| Feb 15 | Thesis Talk |
| Feb 22 | Thesis Talk |
| Feb 29 | Thesis Talk |
| Mar 7 | David Altman, Willamette University Studies of the Regulated Activity of the Motor Protein Myosin Generation of force is critical for many cellular processes. Central to these processes are motor proteins, proteins that use the cell’s chemical energy to create directed motion. Myosins are a family of motor proteins that generate motion along the filamentous protein actin using the energy of ATP hydrolysis. Single-molecule studies of myosin motors have led to a detailed understanding of their force-generating mechanism. However, an understanding of how a myosin functions also requires an understanding of how the motor is regulated by its cellular environment. In this talk, I will discuss single molecule optical trap studies as well as studies conducted in a cellular system that have helped us understand how a particular myosin class, myosin VI, is regulated in the cell. I will also describe preliminary results for studies of the regulated activities of two other myosin classes. |
| Mar 14 | Spring Break |
| Mar 21 | Rob Knop, Quest Universtiy |
| Mar 28 | TBA |
| Apr 4 | TBA |
| Apr 11 | Thesis Talk |
| Apr 18 | Melanie Mitchell, PSU |
| Apr 25 | Thesis Talk |