News: Physics

Read the latest news from the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin

Accolades

MacDonald Announced as Winner of Inaugural Hill Prize in Physical Sciences

Allan MacDonald of The University of Texas at Austin received the award for research with high-impact potential.

A man in a blue collared shirt sits at a desk with paperwork, smiling as he leans on his hand, chalkboard with equations behind him.

Announcements

Excavation of Colossal Caverns for Neutrino Experiment Completed

The caverns in Lead, South Dakota, will house the gigantic particle detectors of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

Cranes and other large equipment working in a large cavern

Research

Researchers Discover New Ways to Excite Spin Waves with Extreme Infrared Light

New ultrafast method for controlling magnetic materials might enable next-generation information processing technologies.

Two red waves enter a crystal from the left and on the other side, a blue and green wave emerge, each with a different wavelength

Accolades

UT Austin Physicists Receive Keck Foundation Boost for Quantum Materials Research

Edoardo Baldini leads a team developing a new approach to stabilize useful quantum properties of atomically thin materials for far longer and at higher temperatures.

Headshots of two scientists are in the foreground, while an illustration of a quantum cavity is in the background

Announcements

New Decadal Report Maps Out U.S. Priorities in Particle Physics Research

The Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) whose participants include a UT physicist delivered recommendations to decision makers.

A warehouse-sized set of scientific equipment

Research

Compact Accelerator Technology Achieves Major Energy Milestone

Bjorn “Manuel” Hegelich led the development of a compact laser accelerator that produces an electron beam with an energy of 10 billion electron volts.

A piece of scientific equipment lit from the outside by green light. In a window in the side of the equipment, a pink light glows.

Research

Researchers Find a New Avenue to Combat Biofilm Threat

A team of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and other institutions have unlocked a clue about how bacteria form biofilms.

Electron microscope image of bacterial biofilm

Research

Peering Inside a Quantum Computer Creates New Phases of Information

Physicist Matteo Ippoliti helped explore how measurements can alter information states in an innovation created by Google.

Illustraiton of colored blocks with arrows and clocks evoking a sense of time and information flowing through a system

Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost

Two Members of Natural Sciences Named to UT Austin’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers

Ruth Buskirk and Michael Marder are among the 2023 inductees to The University of Texas at Austin’s prestigious Academy of Distinguished Teachers.

Ruth Buskirk and Michael Marder

Announcements

With New Grant, Physicist Explores Using Sound to Transmit Data in Quantum Computers

UT Austin’s Keji Lai has received a Moore Foundation award reserved for the country’s top experimental physicists.

Portrait of a scientist