Research Opportunities
Experimental/Observational Facilities:
- The department's Ritter Observatory houses a 1-meter reflecting telescope that is instrumented for stellar spectroscopy. Students are encouraged to use the telescope and its data archives for independent research as well as for guided thesis projects.
- Experimental research in atomic and molecular physics is supported by a heavy-ion accelerator and by a highly unusual negative-ion accelerator.
- A research group works actively on development of plasma display panels.
- The materials science laboratories house plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition systems, sputter deposition systems, vapor deposition systems, a laser scribing facility, optical and electrical thin-film characterization facilities, and facilities for testing solar cells. Additional facilities for materials characterization are available through the Arts and Sciences Instrumentation Center and through collaboration with the College of Engineering and the Department of Chemistry.
Research opportunities in theoretical and computational physics and astrophysics are available with several faculty members. The department's main computer is a Sun workstation/server, and there are numerous networked personal computers and workstations. A cluster of personal computers is available to students, and many students' desks have personal computers. Distributed computing for large projects is available through condor software running on Unix workstations and Windows PCs. For supercomputing applications, Beowulf clusters are available in the department.
The faculty provides research guidance according to the needs of each student.
Collaborations with Local Industry
Internship opportunities and permanent employment opportunites are available at First Solar, Inc., a solar cell manufacturing and development company located near Toledo.
