A graduate student in Professor Bouwmeester’s lab measures optical properties of photonic crystal microcavities.


Professor Elizabeth Gwinn working with graduate students.


Professor Joe Incandela, spokesperson for the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) collaboration at LHC, in front of the CMS detector during construction.


A prototype Reference Point Indentation instrument developed in the Hansma lab measures bone fracture resistance.


Professor Ben Mazin's lab specializes in the development of superconducting detector and instruments for Astrophysics.


Superconducting qubits (Martinis lab) may revolutionize quantum computing.


Atomic Force Microscope image of bone revealing collagen fibrils with and without mineral plates.


Photons exchanging information between optical microcavities containing individual electron spins.


Optical network of core-shell quantum dots communicating quantum spin information between nodes.


Grad student Kurt Soto reflected in the 10 meter mirror of the Keck telescope, used to gather data for his PhD thesis.


Imaging and manipulating arrays of single spins in semiconductors.


Superconducting Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (Mazin lab) counts single photons.


Scanning Electron Microscope (Hansma lab) measuring bone strength.

WELCOME to the Department of Physics at UC Santa Barbara!

Whether you're a current or prospective student, an alum, a parent, a researcher, a job-seeker, or just someone who is interested in physics, we hope you find what you are looking for here. If not, feel free to contact us! Our department has outstanding students, postdocs, researchers, staff, and faculty, many of whom have garnered prestigious awards. We are now ranked among the top five graduate research physics programs according to the 2010 National Research Council rankings.

Open Tenure-Track Lecturer Position
The Department of Physics and the College of Creative Studies are seeking a Lecturer with Potential Security of Employment, for a joint appointment to begin in Fall 2012.

News

Seth Meeker from the Mazin group presents results from their MKID array at Palomar Observatory

The YIP is open to scientists and engineers who show exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research.

Tommaso Treu contributes to exciting NASA discovery

Updated: January 10, 2012 - 8:49am

Hubble Space Telescope uncovers distant galaxies under construction

Atomic scale defects have long-lived spin states at room temperature

Biophysics' attraction is its touch with the personal

Events

Physics Department Tea
Event Date: January 30, 2012 - 3:00pm

Refreshments served

Einstein's equations: good for more than just gravity!
Speaker: Laurence Yaffe - University of Washington
Event Date: January 31, 2012 - 4:00pm

Refreshments served at 3:40

Filming Hydration and Conformational Dynamics of a Light-Activated Membrane Protein
Speaker: Sunyia Hussain - Chemical Engineering, UCSB
Event Date: February 2, 2012 - 12:30pm

ITST Seminar - Refreshments served