The Condensed Matter Physics Group

Condensed matter physics in the Department comprises a relatively large and very active group of researchers. The group supports approximately 60 students and 20 postdoctoral associates, and regularly hosts visiting faculty from all over the world. Interaction is quite strong within the group, as existing collaborative efforts and past projects readily attest. We hold lively and well-attended weekly seminars. We maintain many strong ties with researchers in other UCSD departments, at other universities, at both small and large industrial companies, and at national laboratories. Individual research programs are strong and generally well funded, especially considering today's fiscal climate. There is some emphasis in the group on materials physics, but the overall focus of the group remains fairly broad, as discussed further below.

THEORY

Current research interests include electronic and nonlinear optical properties of solids, quantum Hall effect, superconductivity, strong correlation effects in interacting electron systems, transport in disordered interacting systems, interplay of disorder and quantum/thermal fluctuations, classical and quantum magnetism, superfluidity, liquid crystal physics, biophysical kinetics, pattern formation in nonequilibrium systems, turbulence and chaos.

EXPERIMENT

Research is dedicated to a wide range of subjects in the general area of strongly correlated electron systems and quantum fluids and solids. Topics and systems of current interest include high temperature superconductors, various unusual magnetic materials, metamaterials, strongly correlated d- and f-electron materials, materials in confined geometric configurations such as one dimensional wires, superlattices and nanocrystals, strong photon localization and photonic band structures, dynamics and micromagnetics of single domain ferroparticles, colossal magnetoresistance, sensors, polymers, pattern formation and mesoscale phase separation in electronic and magnetic materials, artificial ordered vortex pinning in superconductors, metal-insulator transitions, infrared spectroscopy, neutron and x-ray scattering, exciton condensation, pattern formation, and coherence, and both solid and liquid helium.