Department of Physics and Astronomy

Thorndike made pathbreaking contributions to the study of matter.

Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank explores the links between atmospheric oxygen and detecting extraterrestrial technology on distant planets.

The findings can be used to design molecules with custom quantum coherence properties, laying the chemical foundation for emerging quantum technologies.

Led by researchers from the University of Rochester, scientists from the international collaboration MINERvA have, for the first time, used a beam of hard-to-detect neutrinos to investigate the structure of protons.

“We’ve combined the idea of a memristor and a phase-change device in a way that can go beyond the limitations of either device,” says Stephen Wu, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and of physics.

A team from the Department of Physics and Astronomy has applied the theory of semantic information to a realistic model capturing attributes of living systems—and found the critical point where information matters for survival.

A team of researchers including John Nichol, an associate professor of physics, has won a grant from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research to address challenges posed by silicon spin qubits.

Rochester Professor Nicholas Bigelow helped develop experiments conducted at NASA’s Cold Atom Lab to probe the fundamental nature of the world around us.

Take a brief look back at some memorable moments captured at Rochester in September.

A new grant will allow John Nichol and his team to study thermoelectricity to help develop more efficient quantum computers.