Condensed Matter Physics (CMP)

Understanding fundamental microscopic mechanisms of macroscopic phenomena in a condensed form of matter is the scope of condensed matter physics (CMP). The modern condensed matter physics has expanded tremendously into many science-engineering disciplines, that cover everything from studies of fundamental electronic properties like superconductivity, nano-electronics, to the very complex system of living cells.

In today’s world, “physics” is simply a synonym of fundamental mechanism in chemistry, electrical engineering, biology etc. The CMP strives to unlock hidden quantum mechanisms for novel states of matter which manifests only when particles are put together. The CMP research programs at UB, the largest group in the physics department, offer an extensive array of cutting-edge topics -- spintronics, quantum computing, low-dimensional nano-structures,  topological materials, superconductivity, quantum fluids, magnetism, nonequilibrium dynamics, computational many-body physics – with strong inter-disciplinary collaboration with chemistry, mathematics, electrical engineering and biology departments. A full-time faculty of 14 professors (8 experimental, 6 theoretical) lead the research.

John Cerne – Infrared Hall Effect in Novel Materiels and Superconductors

Sambandamurthy Ganapathy – Quantum Transport in Nanostructures and Nanoelectronics

Jong E. Han – Computational many-body theory, nonequilibrium transport, nano-electronics modeling

Xuedong Hu – Quantum computations

Eckhard Krotscheck – Condensed Matter Physics Theory

Changjiang Liu – Superconductivity, Spintronics, Synthesis of quantum materials

Hong Luo – Semiconductor nanostructures

Andrea Markelz – Molecular Biophysics, THz spectroscopy

Athos Petrou – Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy of Semiconductors

Arnd Pralle  – Cellular Biophysics, Nanoscale Magnetism

Tim Thomay - Condensed Matter Physics Experiment

Hao Zeng – Nanoscale Magnetism

Peihong Zhang – Nanoscale electronic structure theory

Wenjun Zheng – Biophysics

Igor Zutic – Spintronics and spin-polarized transport, unconventional superconductivity

• Jiajun Li (Han group)
• Weixiang Jin, Ishiaka Mansaray, Rahul Munshi, Michael Zucker, Dr. Idoia Castellanos-Rubio (Pralle group)
• Yanting Deng, Catherine Luck, Akansha Sharma, Mengyang Xu (Markelz group)
• Nathaniel Fuller, Sushree Tripathy, Han Wen (Zheng group)

• PHY 434: Solid State Physics
• PHY 519, 520: Statistical Mechanics I and II
• PHY 527, 528: Solid State Physics I and II
• PHY 538: Quantum Theory of Solids

Where are the Condensed Matter alumni of the past ten years now ? 

Meet some recent alumni: Sujay Singh (PhD) , Hemachander Subramanian (PhD), Andreas Stier (PhD)