Events During the Week of October 6th through October 13th, 2019
Monday, October 7th, 2019
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar
- Plasma Facing Materials for Fusion – From Challenge to Realisation
- Time: 12:05 pm - 12:55 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: J. Coenen, Julich
- Host: John Sarff
Tuesday, October 8th, 2019
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar
- Spectroscopy with Josephson Junctions
- Time: 11:00 am
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Dr. Çaglar Girit, College de France
- Abstract: Spectroscopy, by providing a direct measurement of the energy spectrum, is a powerful tool to probe matter. Conventional spectroscopy techniques suffer several drawbacks when applied to mesoscopic systems, or artificial quantum coherent atoms. I present an on-chip, Josephson-junction based spectrometer which surpasses state-of-the-art instruments, works between 2-200 GHz, and is ideally suited for probing elementary excitations in mesoscopic systems. I describe the operating principle and design of the spectrometer, show spectra of several superconducting quantum circuits, and outline experiments to investigate single quasiparticles in superconductors.
- Host: Brar
- Chaos & Complex Systems Seminar
- Beer, biofuels, and beyond: yeast biodiversity in the era of genomics
- Time: 12:05 pm - 1:00 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin (refreshments will be served)
- Speaker: Chris Hittinger, UW Department of Genetics
- Abstract: Here, I will present a general audience lecture on yeast biodiversity in the age of genomics. Topics will include beer, biofuels, and other fermentation products, as well as new approaches in synthetic biology.
- Host: Clint Sprott
Wednesday, October 9th, 2019
- No events scheduled
Thursday, October 10th, 2019
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar
- Quantum computing with superconducting circuits
- Time: 11:00 am
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin
- Speaker: Yu Chen , Google
- Abstract: In this talk, I will review the recent progress in Google AI quantum team. I will discuss the development of our flagship processor based on superconducting qubits both with fixed and tunable coupling. I will demonstrate that the tunable coupling provides us great flexibility in developing two-qubit gates for error-corrections and near-term applications. I will show we have developed technologies that enables us to achieve high performance at a system level.
- Host: Alex Levchenko
- Cosmology Journal Club
- Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
- Place: 5242 Chamberlin Hall
- Abstract: Please visit the following link for more details:
http://cmb.physics.wisc.edu/journal/index.html
Feel free to bring your lunch!
If you have questions or comments about this journal club, would like to propose a topic or volunteer to introduce a paper, please email Ross Cawthon (cawthon@wisc.edu) and Santanu Das (sdas33@wisc.edu). - PGSC Professional Development Seminar
- Where Physics Ph.D.'s Work and How to Get There
- Time: 2:30 pm
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Rob Morgan, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Abstract: We will take a data-driven look at the job landscape for graduating physics Ph.D.s. The talk will discuss positions in academia, at national laboratories, and in the private sector. We will also discuss the typical skill set and track record of people in those positions. Visit for more information.
- Host: Rob Morgan, graduate student
- Astronomy Colloquium
- Milky Way Science with the Dark Energy Survey
- Time: 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
- Place: 4421 Sterling Hall, Coffee and cookies 3:30 PM, Talk begins 3:45 PM
- Speaker: Keith Bechtol, UW Madison Physics Department
- Abstract: The stellar halo of the Milky Way represents only ~1% of the total stellar mass of our Galaxy, but is rich with clues regarding the formation history of the Milky Way, the properties of the first stars and galaxies, and the local distribution of dark matter. The current generation of wide-field optical/NIR imaging surveys including SDSS, DES, Pan-STARRS, Gaia, and HSC-SSP has allowed us to catalog more than a billion individually resolved stars out to the Milky Way viral radius and beyond with precise multiband photometry, proper motions, and light curves for variable stars. These datasets, in combination with follow-up spectroscopy, provide new perspectives on the dynamical and chemical history of the Milky Way and its satellites, and ever more stringent constraints on the fundamental nature of dark matter. I will discuss these topics, with a focus on recent results from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), a 5000 square degree imaging survey of the south Galactic cap to ~24th magnitude in the grizY bands.
Friday, October 11th, 2019
- Physics Department Colloquium
- X-ray Free Electron Lasers (XFELs) for structural biology and more: How the (relatively) new European XFEL really can do more!
- Time: 3:30 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Adrian Mancuso
- Abstract: X-ray Free Electron Lasers (XFELs) are relatively new, large scale scientific facilities producing X-ray pulses of femtoseconds duration and unprecedented brilliance. These pulses provide a wealth of applications across the physical and life sciences particularly through utilizing their ability to probe ultrafast processes, radiation damage sensitive systems or simply weakly scattering (poor cross-section) systems that require many photons—and sometimes many spatially coherent photons—to observe. Of particular note is the field of serial crystallography, which holds promise to make the study of medically and environmentally relevant proteins both broader than at present and perhaps more robust. Notwithstanding XFELs’ contributions to many fields from magnetism to structural biology their application has, in part, been limited by access (most only allow a single experiment at a time) and the data rate that can be achieved in a given experiment (most sources provide a maximum of 120 pulses per second). Much more recently, a new class of XFEL has been inaugurated in the Hamburg metropolitan area of Germany. The European XFEL is capable of providing up to 27,000 pulses per second as well as serving distinct photon beams to three experiments simultaneously. In this presentation I will outline the basic properties of the European XFEL and how this vastly improved capability can be leveraged for biomolecular structure determination at the atomic scale, not only for static systems but also for systems evolving in time. Schedule permitting, I will also describe possible applications to observing dynamic processes in materials sciences on the micrometer and microsecond timescale. Along the way I’ll outline why structural biology (still) requires physicists, as well as some of the open (physical) questions that need to be addressed before XFELs can be applied to the most challenging structure determination problems in biology. To close, I’ll look forward to what we might hope can be imaged with XFELs in the not too distant future.
- Host: James Lawler