Past Schedules: 2004-2005 | 2005-2006 | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008

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“Just Enough about Nuclear Power”

After several decades without new construction, the US is again proposing to build new electrical power plants based on nuclear fission. This has been called ‘The Nuclear Renaissance” by supporters, and is occurring amid a global boom in new nuclear power plants. We, as citizens, need to know ‘’just enough’ of the basic science and technology to hold informed positions on nuclear power, especially since the big change since the last nuclear boom is the concern about CO2 and global warming. Concerns are not only about the plants themselves, but the role of their technology in the proliferation of nuclear weapons and issues of waste disposal. This presentation will attempt to provide the science and technology basics to understand these important opportunities and issues.

Prof. Jerome Peterson

Experimental Nuclear Physics

“Disorderly Conduct: How impurities lead to exotic behavior of electrons in materials”

Often, when we think of precious and valuable materials the purity of the material figures in strongly to our assessment of their quality. But often the very things that give materials their valuable qualities come from out of place, impurity, atoms forced into their crystalline structure to disrupt them and give them new properties. These range from using them to provide the "stain" in stained glass and material for the first LASER. Recently, these out of place atoms, when placed onto the right palate, have shown surprising behavior like superconductors that conduct electricity with no resistance at half of room temperature. I will discuss a few of the different ways physicists use impurities to add value to materials.

Prof. Kyle McElroy

Experimental Condensed Matter Physics

“Fun With Ultracold Atoms”

CU Boulder is home to some of the coldest experiments in the world. I will discuss experiments where we are exploring quantum behavior in a gas of atoms cooled to temperatures near absolute zero. The talk will touch upon topics such as temperature, quantum mechanics, and superconductivity.

2 P.M.
Duane Physics G1B30

“Cool Physics: The surprising story of ice”

Ice is such a familiar substance that it's easy to take it for granted -- we see it all the time in everyday life. But ice is very unusual. Like in most solids, the water molecules in ice form a crystal, but, surprisingly, even the purest, cleanest ice crystals have a huge amount of randomness at the atomic scale. In this talk, we will see where this randomness comes from using only simple pictures, and understand how it is an example of a phenomenon known as geometrical frustration. We will also take a look at some other, less familiar, geometrically frustrated substances, with phenomena even more remarkable than the randomness of ice.

Prof. Michael Hermele

Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics

“Physics of the Superconducting Proton Collider”

Hundreds of feet below the surface of Geneva, Switzerland lies a circular tunnel 17 miles long. The Large Hadron Collider lies inside this tunnel and will soon be circulating protons at nearly the speed of light. When smashed together these protons will create conditions similar to a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. With information gathered from these collisions, physicists hope to answer some very puzzling questions about how the universe works. This talk will describe the physics we hope to find and explore the construction of this immense project involving thousands of people and billions of dollars.

    Presentation (pdf)

Prof. Kevin Stenson

Experimental Elementary Particle Physics

“Laser Tweezers & Laser Shapers: Moving things without touching”

To explain why tails of comets always point away from the Sun, famous astronomer Kepler suggested that the Sun is exerting a sort of radiant pressure. In 1609 this led him to propose sailing from the Earth to the Moon on light itself. Sailing on light was and still is the stuff of science fiction. However, 400 years later, Kepler's ideas about moving matter with light are becoming a reality. In this talk, we will see that light can be used to move things without touching. We will see how light of a laser can form multiple “hands” (laser tweezers and laser shapers) and allow for contact-free manipulation of tiny objects, including those that we would not be able to move with our own hands or even see with our eyes.

Prof. Ivan Smalyukh

Experimental Condensed Matter Physics

“Angels and Demons: The Science Revealed”

This May will see the theatrical world premiere of Angels & Demons, based on the best-selling novel that focuses on an apparent plot to destroy the Vatican using antimatter made using the Large Hadron Collider and stolen from the European particle physics laboratory CERN. Joing us for this very special talk about the real science of antimatter, the Large Hadron Collider, and exciting particle physics research.

Prof. Patricia Rankin

Experimental Elementary Particle Physics