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LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy The Department of Physics and Astronomy of the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA.

LSU Physics & Astronomy is bringing the Quantum Seminar Series back for its second installment. A seminar series with hi...
10/16/2026

LSU Physics & Astronomy is bringing the Quantum Seminar Series back for its second installment. A seminar series with high-level introductions to a wide range of topics across quantum physics while bringing together students, postdocs, and faculty with shared interests. The talks will be at the level of an intermediate grad student who has taken a course in quantum mechanics.

For this seminar, Dr. Ilia Komissarov will present his lecture “Integrating Out the Details Using the Functional Renormalization Group.”

📅 Wednesday, October 21�🕑 1:30
PM�

📍 Nicholson Hall, Room 435

Join us for the talk and if you are interested in joining the mailing list or suggesting a future speaker?
Use the form here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekislqPO_J94Poqgufz560F0x97UBTsPEJbYAMpsNMovujEA/viewform

Yesterday’s Department Gathering brought the LSU Physics & Astronomy community together for an evening of food, games, f...
10/15/2026

Yesterday’s Department Gathering brought the LSU Physics & Astronomy community together for an evening of food, games, friendly competition, and plenty of laughs.

Thank you to all of the students, faculty, and staff who came out, participated, helped organize activities, and made the event possible. We’re grateful for everyone who helped make it such a fun night for the department!

🎗️ What if radiation therapy devices were built to fit each patient's anatomy?That is the question LSU PhD candidate Sha...
10/14/2026

🎗️ What if radiation therapy devices were built to fit each patient's anatomy?

That is the question LSU PhD candidate Shanice Manning, MS at LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy is exploring in her dissertation research, conducted at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center through the LSU-Mary Bird Perkins Medical Physics graduate program.
Her project, Small Pieces, Big Impact: Improving Radiation Care with Custom Designs, focuses on 3D-printed brachytherapy applicators. A better fitting device means the radiation source sits exactly where it is intended, targeting cancer while sparing healthy tissue. Shanice is developing the fabrication methods, radiation measurements and quality-control processes needed to bring personalized devices closer to the clinic.

And the recognition is already here. LSU Medical Physics swept the regional MedPhys Slam, with Shanice in first place, Murtuza Taqi in second and Emma Sargent in third. Shanice then went on to win first place and the People's Choice Award at the national competition, the first national MedPhys Slam win by an LSU student!

"I am not reading about how these treatments are being delivered. Im watching it happen, in the same facility where Im running my research," said Shanice. "That proximity to patient care has changed how I think about what Im building and why."

👏 Congratulations, Shanice!
Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/e453AMYz

⚛️ Quantum chaos, meet quantum control.Congratulations to our own Justin Wilson at LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy...
10/13/2026

⚛️ Quantum chaos, meet quantum control.

Congratulations to our own Justin Wilson at LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy, coauthor of a new study in Nature Physics with Rutgers, IBM and collaborating institutions!

Using IBM's 156-qubit Heron processor, the team showed that a quantum computer can check what is happening inside it and respond while it runs. Nearly 5,000 checks and resets across a chain of up to 100 qubits brought chaotic behavior under control. It is among the largest demonstrations to date of real-time quantum feedback control, a capability seen as essential for future fault-tolerant quantum computers.

The study also caught order emerging from disorder. When the balance tipped past 50-50 between scrambling and resetting, the qubits flipped from chaos to a controlled state, a quantum phase transition like water freezing into ice.

"Small changes can lead to large and nearly impossible-to-predict consequences, like the classic idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa could eventually contribute to a hurricane hitting Louisiana," said Wilson.

"But this out-of-control behavior can be brought under control by randomly intervening, and there is a sharply defined rate at which that happens."

👏 Congratulations, Justin!

Read more: https://lnkd.in/eaNFmKeh

🎉 LSU Physicist Constantin Schrade to receive DOE Early Career Award!Dr. Schrade, assistant professor in the LSU Departm...
10/12/2026

🎉 LSU Physicist Constantin Schrade to receive DOE Early Career Award!

Dr. Schrade, assistant professor in the LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy, is the only researcher from Louisiana among the 67 scientists nationwide named to the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2026 Early Career Research Program!

His five-year research project will investigate how changes in the microscopic magnetic patterns of altermagnets can steer electrons with opposite spins along different paths.

The goal is to develop a deeper understanding of this behavior and identify ways to test it experimentally, laying the groundwork for future spin-based technologies.

👏 Congratulations, Dr. Schrade!

🔗 Read more: https://lnkd.in/dSpwTV69

Congratulations to Dr. Mehdi Zarea and Professor James Sauls of LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy on an Editors' Sug...
10/09/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Mehdi Zarea and Professor James Sauls of LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy on an Editors' Suggestion in Physical Review B!

Their paper, published on October 8, 2026 as Phys. Rev. B 114, 214505, develops the microscopic theory for the microwave response of superconductors with low-energy subgap quasiparticles.

Why does this matter? Even dilute concentrations of paramagnetic impurities embedded in a superconductor break Cooper pairs and create these low-energy quasiparticles, which can impact the performance of superconducting microwave resonators and devices.

The authors predict the low temperature Joule dissipation, anomalies in the London pe*******on depth, and frequency shifts of high-Q resonators. They also show that microwave excitation of the subgap quasiparticles gives rise to the residual resistance of high-Q superconducting RF cavities.

This work connects fundamental condensed matter theory with technologies from particle accelerators to quantum circuits.

Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/eyUT99CD

🎉 The LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy congratulates Professor Thomas Corbitt on his election as a 2026 Fellow of t...
10/09/2026

🎉 The LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy congratulates Professor Thomas Corbitt on his election as a 2026 Fellow of the American Physical Society!

APS elects no more than 0.5 percent of its members as Fellows each year, and Professor Corbitt is the first LSU faculty member elected since 2015. The APS recognized him for developing quantum-optical and optomechanical techniques for gravitational-wave astrophysics. His lab at LSU works on quieting quantum noise in detectors like LIGO, and this year his team showed that optical springs can nearly double detector sensitivity beyond the quantum limit.

Congratulations, Thomas!

Read the full announcement: https://lnkd.in/eWJu7_pH

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Join the LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy for our upcoming Colloquium Lecture Series featuring “Understanding Nucle...
10/09/2026

Join the LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy for our upcoming Colloquium Lecture Series featuring “Understanding Nuclear Reactions from Individual Nucleons: A Microscopic Glauber Theory Approach”

📅 Thursday, October 15 | 🕒 3:30 PM

📍 Nicholson Hall, Room 109

🎤 Speaker: Dr. Wataru Horiuchi

☕ Reception with refreshments at 3:00 PM in the Physics Library

All are welcome!

Congratulations to Professor Joseph A. Giaime, who has been selected by the American Association of Physics Teachers as ...
10/07/2026

Congratulations to Professor Joseph A. Giaime, who has been selected by the American Association of Physics Teachers as the 2027 recipient of the Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award.

The award recognizes outstanding contributions to physics and the ability to communicate those contributions effectively to physics educators.

Professor Giaime is being honored for his work communicating physics to broad audiences, his outreach through the LIGO Science Education Center Partnership, and his leadership as Observatory Head of LIGO Livingston.

This honor adds to a distinguished career in gravitational-wave physics, research, education, and scientific leadership.

As the 2027 award recipient, Professor Giaime will deliver the Richtmyer Memorial Lecture at the AAPT Winter Meeting.

Please join us in congratulating Professor Giaime on this well-deserved achievement!

We’re turning the Quad into game night for LSU Physics & Astronomy. Come hungry and ready to compete in our ping pong, J...
10/05/2026

We’re turning the Quad into game night for LSU Physics & Astronomy. Come hungry and ready to compete in our ping pong, Jenga, card game, and puzzle tournaments, or take on the Physics & Astronomy scavenger hunt. Prizes will be awarded to the winners of each tournament and to the first group to complete the scavenger hunt.

📅 Wednesday, October 14

🕔 5 PM

📍 The Quad in front of Nicholson Hall

☔ Rain location: Physics Library, 2nd Floor

Come eat, compete, and spend time with the LSU Physics & Astronomy community!

&Astronomy

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202 Nicholson Hall
Baton Rouge, LA
70803

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8am - 4:30pm
Friday 8am - 4:30pm

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+12255782261

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