Jump To:  Graduate Search  >  Institution  >  College/School  >  Department/Program      

My Saved Schools  |  Print

Apply Now	Research	School Web Site
Program Information

Others also viewed:

• Clemson University, Program in Physics
• Indiana University Bloomington, Department of Physics
• Penn State University Park, Department of Physics

View full list

Detailed Information

Program of Study

The Department of Physics offers graduate work leading to the Ph.D. in applied physics. This unique program, begun in 2005, provides many research opportunities within the department, offering students a wide choice of specific areas of study. A low student-faculty ratio allows students to work closely with faculty members. Areas of research include experimental (IR spectroscopy, thin films, magnetism, gas adsorption, ellipsometry), theoretical (condensed-matter theory, statistical physics, quantum computing, simulation of materials), and applied physics (novel materials from agricultural byproducts, coal and coal ash composites, permanent magnetic materials, chemical nanosensors, gas storage, carbon nanotubes, superhard coatings).

In addition to completing all the requirements set by the Graduate School, Ph.D. students must complete a sequence of required basic core courses, which include classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, electromagnetic theory, statistical mechanics, and solid-state physics. One additional course–in computational physics, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, advanced topics in surface physics, advanced topics in magnetism and magnetic materials, advanced topics in quantum computing, advanced topics in applied physics, advanced topics in the spectroscopy of materials, or advanced topics in the physics of hybrid materials–is also required. Another 9 credit hours of graduate-level elective courses selected from a list approved by the department must be completed next. Starting no later than the third semester in the doctoral program, students must enroll for two consecutive semesters in the Special Projects in Physics course. To be admitted into candidacy, students must pass the qualifying examination, taken no later than during the third semester. No later than six months after admission to candidacy, students must request the appointment of a dissertation committee, to which they must present and describe orally a written dissertation proposal. Students must complete 24 credit hours of Physics 600 (Dissertation). Upon completion, the dissertation committee administers a final oral examination, the dissertation defense.

Research Facilities

The thin-film laboratory includes a sputter coater, a spectroscopic ellipsometer, a wear tester, and a spectrograph. The magnetic properties laboratory includes a SQUID magnetometer, high-temperature ovens, a diamond-cutting saw, assorted other magnetometers, and a variable-temperature electrical-resistance measurement setup. The magnetic film properties laboratory is equipped with a Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) setup, an X-ray apparatus, a magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) instrument, and a point contact Andreev reflectivity (PCAR) system. The applied materials and spectroscopy laboratory includes four Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers (one coupled with a high-temperature reactor and another with such attachments as a photoacoustic cell system, a grazing angle, a specular reflectance, three diffuse reflectance systems, an attenuated reflectance, a transmission high-temperature system, transmission low-temperature systems, and various gas cells); an electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer; a Perkin-Elmer diamond differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) system with low-temperature capabilities, a TGA/DTA system, and a differential thermal analyzer (DTA7) system; two grinding mills; two combustion tube assembly systems; two diamond saws; two 900-watt microwave oven systems; four high-temperature, high-pressure presses for fabricating composites; and stainless-steel dies for fabricating composites of various sizes. The low-temperature laboratory has six automated, variable-temperature, volumetric adsorption setups (one with high-pressure capabilities); a helium mass-spectrometer leak detector; a tube furnace; a vacuum oven; and a setup for AC calorimetry measurements and AC thermal diffusivity measurements. The nanosensor laboratory has chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and physical vapor deposition (PVD) systems for nanowire growth, a high-resolution optical microscopy and microspectroscopy system, a variable pressure and variable temperature probe station for conduction measurements on individual nanostructures, and a variable temperature and variable pressure STM/AFM microscope. The nanotube laboratory has facilities for the production of carbon nanotubes and for their characterization. Theorists in the department are equipped with individual multinode computer clusters, which enable them to conduct sophisticated simulations and calculations.

Financial Aid

Assistantships for the academic year are offered to every selected applicant. An assistantship guarantees employment and includes a waiver of tuition (except for student fees). Incoming graduate students are teaching assistants or research assistants. In addition to teaching assistantships, other sources of financial assistance include fellowships, scholarships, loans, and work-study programs.

Cost of Study

In-state graduate tuition was $313.90 per credit hour in 2008–09. Out-of-state tuition was 2.5 times the in-state tuition rate ($784.75 per credit hour). Graduate students with at least a 25 percent appointment as a graduate assistant receive a tuition scholarship. Fees varied from $511.26 (1 credit hour) to $1416.05 (12 credit hours). Students with a graduate assistantship received a 25 percent reduction in the Primary Care Medical Fee.

Living and Housing Costs

For married couples, students with families, and single graduate students, the University has 690 efficiency and one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom apartments that rented for $484 to $686 per month in 2008–09. Residence halls for single graduate students were also available, as were accessible residence hall rooms and apartments for students with disabilities.

Student Group

Of the 13 students currently enrolled in the program, 12 are full-time, and 9 are international students.

Location

Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) is 350 miles south of Chicago and 100 miles southeast of St. Louis. The scenic main campus occupies 981 acres and includes a wooded area preserved in a natural state, a lake with a beach and swimming area, canoe and boat-rental facilities, a walking (or jogging) trail, and fishing piers. The campus provides an array of cultural activities, including frequent performances by opera, theater, symphony, and dance groups given by both local and traveling performers.

The University and The Department

Since its chartering in 1869, Southern Illinois University Carbondale has grown into a comprehensive university with a student body of approximately 24,000. Supported by the state of Illinois, the University offers a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programs in liberal arts, sciences, engineering, medicine, and law. The objective of the University is to provide a comprehensive educational program that meets a student’s needs. The Department of Physics offers the B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics in addition to the Ph.D. in applied physics. Active student participation in research is encouraged at the undergraduate level and required at the graduate level.

Applying

Candidates should have a minimum GPA of 3.25 for admission into the doctoral program. The GRE is required. Applicants must submit the application to the Graduate School and to the physics department, the professional record form, the $10 application fee, official transcripts from all universities attended, and three letters of reference. Applications are processed on a rolling basis.

The Faculty and Their Research

• Naushad Ali, Professor; Ph.D., Alberta, 1984. Use of synchrotron radiation in magnetic and superconductivity studies; colossal magnetoresistance; photo-induced magnetization and molecular magnets; permanent magnetic materials; electrical, magnetic, and thermal properties of magnetically ordered rare earth compounds; the study of spin-glass and reentrant magnetic phase transitions; valence fluctuations, heavy fermion, and kondo lattice in YbSi2, CeSi x, UPt1-x Pd1 and like systems; evolution of Mn magnetic moments in RMn2 (R=Rare Earth Y1-xRxMn2 systems).
• Local structure of Yni2B2C superconductor determined by x-ray adsorption spectroscopy. Phys. Rev. B 1:3175, 2000. With Yu, Ignatov, Tischer, Tsvyashchenko, and Foricheva).
• Samir Aouadi, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., British Columbia, 1994. Design, fabrication, characterization, and testing of optical and protective coatings, specifically nanocomposite and nanocrystalline single-phase coatings for orthopedic implants and other tribological applications, spectroscopic ellipsometry as a real-time technique for process monitoring and control of composite and multilayer coatings, diffusion barrier coatings for interconnects, and ab-initio density functional theory calculations for materials design and analysis.
• Real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry study of ultra-thin diffusion barriers for integrated circuits. J. Appl. Phys. 96:3949, 2004. With Shreeman.
• Mark Byrd, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Texas at Austin, 1999. Theoretical quantum computation and quantum error correction.
• Universal leakage elimination. Phys. Rev. A 71:052301, 2005. With Lidar, Wu, and Zanardi.
• Maria de las Mercedes Calbi, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Buenos Aires, 1999. Gases adsorbed on and inside carbon nanotube bundles (novel phases of matter, adsorption and thermodynamical properties, diffusion behavior, quantum effects, and phase transitions), Bose-Einstein condensation in low-dimensional systems (condensates in optical lattices), forces between nanosized particles (Van der Waals forces between atomic clusters, size and many-body effects, and aggregation phenomena in fluids).
• Universal anisotropic condensation transition of gases in nanotube bundles. J. Low Temp. Phys. 133:399–406, 2003. With Gatica and Cole.
• John D. Cutnell, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Wisconsin, 1967.
• Frank Gaitan, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1992. Quantum computing, condensed-matter theory.
• Temporal interferometry: A mechanism for controlling qubit transitions during twisted rapid passage with possible application to quantum computing. Phys. Rev. A 68:052314, 2003.
• Bruno J. Gruber, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Vienna, 1961.
• Walter C. Henneberger, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Göttingen, 1959.
• Richard Holland, Lecturer; Ph.D., Southern Illinois Carbondale, 1999.
• Kenneth W. Johnson, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Ohio State, 1967.
• Andrei Kolmakov, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Kurchatov Institute and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 1995. Interplay between surface and bulk electronic properties of individual nanostructures (nanowires/nanobelts, clusters, nanoparticles), their assemblies, and nanostructured surfaces (oxides); fabrication-functionalization-characterization of nanostructures and nanostructured surfaces; manufacturing of corresponding nanodevices for sensing, (opto)-electronics, energy conversion, and other applications; development of (spectro)-microscopic techniques and instruments for in situ/in vivo characterization of the functioning nanostructures and nanodevices.
• Chemical sensing and catalysis by one-dimensional metal-oxide nanostructures. Ann. Rev. Mater. Res. 34:151–80, 2004. With Moskovits.
• Ruth Ann Levinson, Lecturer; M.S., Southern Illinois Carbondale, 1996.
• Vivak Malhotra, Professor; Ph.D., Kanpur, 1978. Phase transitions in porous materials, infrared spectroscopy of materials, production and characterization of nanocomposites, friction materials, biocomposites from agricultural by-products, structural materials, and novel materials from coal combustion by-products.
• Structural, thermal, and thermodynamical behavior of phenolic-inorganic hybrid composites. MRS Symp. Ser. 628:6.5.1–6.6.6, 2000. With Amanuel.
• F. Bary Malik, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Göttingen, 1958.
• J. Thomas Masden, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Purdue, 1983. Electrical properties of thin films and wires, giant magnetoresistance in superlattices such as Fe-Cr.
• Temperature dependence of the resistance in ultrathin Nb wires. Phys. Rev. B Condens. Matter 38(15):10297–301, 1988. With Hussein and Chin.
• Aldo D. Migone, Professor and Chair; Ph.D., Penn State, 1984. Thermodynamic studies of phases and phase transitions in systems of reduced dimensionality: binding energies and first-layer phases of gases adsorbed on carbon nanostructures (nanotubes and nanohorns), thermodynamic measurements of molecules adsorbed on well-characterized planar substrates.
• Gases do not adsorb in the interstitial channels of SWNT bundles. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85:138, 2000. With Talapatra, Zambano, and Weber.
• Frank C. Sanders Jr., Associate Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Texas, 1968.
• Mykola Saporoschenko, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Washington (St. Louis), 1958.
• Shane Stadler, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Tulane, 1998. Magnetic materials, pulsed-laser deposition of thin films, MOKE measurements, magnetic properties of thin films, spin-polarized materials, x-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements.
• Saikat Talapatra, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Southern Illinois Carbondale, 2002. Properties and production of carbon nanotubes and their composites, magnetic measurements, sorption.
• Mesfin Tsige, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Case Western Reserve, 2001. Modeling polymer systems with molecular dynamic simulations.
• Richard E. Watson, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Illinois, 1938.

Correspondence and Information

Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Dr. Aldo Migone, Chair
Department of Physics
College of Science
Carbondale, Illinois 62901-4701
Telephone: 618-453-2643
Fax: 618-453-1056
Email: physics@physics.siu.edu