Department

Physics

The Department of Physics continues to increase our suite of academic offerings to provide our students breadth and depth of educational training. We are internationally recognised for the impact and quality of our work in pure and applied research. Together with our industry and academic partners, many of our faculty members conduct multidisciplinary research in areas ranging from condensed matter, quantum theories and technologies, astrophysics and nuclear physics to biophysics and medical physics. Beyond scholarship, we maintain an active outreach programme to bring physics to our youths.

Shaping
Future Talent

We introduced a new interdisciplinary course (IDC), HS2907 Earth and Beyond, which highlights how discoveries from different fields change the interdisciplinary knowledge relevant to Earth and planetary science. Another new course under the Artificial Intelligence pillar of the College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS) Common Curriculum, HS1502 Conceptual Introduction to Machine Learning (ML), provides an overview of ML and its implications for arts and humanities practitioners.

In June 2023, we organised a Germany Immersion Trip for our students to experience the different academic and cultural environment in Germany. The trip included a two-week stay in Munich with visits to laboratories at the University of Munich, Max Planck Institutes, the Wendelstein Observatory, the Garching research reactor and the Deutsches Museum.

There was also a one-week stay in Göttingen which included talks on graphene, experimental high energy physics, ion beam physics and X-ray optics, an open air concert in the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Park, visits to physics institutes of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen as well as the former student jail of Göttingen University.

We entered a 3+2 agreement with Wuhan University (WHU) in May 2023 to establish an Integrated Degree Programme. This will allow Bachelor of Science (BSc) students from WHU-Physics to complete their last year of undergraduate studies and continue their study in the Master of Science (MSc) in Physics for Technologies or MSc in Physics programmes at NUS.

At the American Physical Society Meeting held in Las Vegas in March 2023, we presented an early career technical session comprising science sharing by incoming Presidential Young Professors (PYPs) and nominees, as well as a reception and discussion with early career scholars and leading scientists.

Over the past year, three PYPs – Asst Profs Alvin CHUA, HO Wen Wei and LI Xinwei – joined our department. They bring with them research expertise in areas such as many-body quantum dynamics, gravitational-wave astronomy and experimental condensed matter physics, which will also positively impact the quality of instruction for our students.

We continued our outreach efforts to bring physics to youths. We organised a physics engagement camp for 330 local high school students in December 2022, a summer camp for undergraduates from Wuhan University in June 2023, a physics challenge camp for 55 high school students and teachers from China in July 2023 and the Illustratum hallway competition in July 2023 to encourage creativity in communicating physics concepts.

Our outreach programmes offer academic lectures, workshops, laboratory tours and hands-on sessions to promote better understanding of physics.

Our benefactors’ generosity enables our students to realise their potential. For instance, Dr PHUA Kok Khoo’s family donated an endowed gift of $75,000 to establish two awards which recognise our students’ academic achievements.

We also closely support our students to help them make the most of their studies.

Shaping
Future Solutions

Our research continues to expand the limits of technological possibilities and advance the frontiers of knowledge in areas ranging from quantum science to medical applications.

Many tweezers make light work of atom-array assembly

Arrays of neutral atoms are a promising platform for quantum simulation. In their automated setup powered by a novel algorithm, Asst Prof LOH Huanqian’s team created defect-free arrays of up to 225 rubidium atoms, pristinely arranged in arrays about as wide as human hair (glowing dots in the images). These pictures show how the team can assemble atoms into any pattern fitting within a 15 by 15 triangular grid. This work was published in Physical Review Applied (March 2023) and highlighted in the American Physical Society’s Physics Magazine (March 2023).

Novel ferroelectric material for the future of data storage solutions

Physicists from NUS and international collaborators led by Prof Andrew WEE recently discovered a new single-element material, known as two-dimensional (2D) black phosphorus-like bismuth (BP-Bi), that demonstrates ferroelectric properties. This new material changes the conventional understanding of ferroelectric materials, which are commonly made up of compounds – more than one element – with opposing charges to allow the formation of an electric field. This finding solves the fundamental question of whether single-element substances have ferroelectric properties. These findings were published in Nature (April 2023).

PERFECTLY CONTROLLED DOUBLE-ALIGNED SUPERMOIRÉ STRUCTURES

The supermoiré lattice, built by stacking two moiré patterns, is regarded as the next generation moiré quantum matter. The main challenge in assembling a graphene supermoiré lattice is its rotational alignment, due to the random nature of the edge and crystal symmetry. Prof ARIANDO’s team developed a novel technique and successfully realised the controlled alignment of a double-aligned supermoiré lattice. The team coined the ‘Golden Rule of Three’ to guarantee the success of the proposed technique. This allows robust study of strongly correlated electron systems in quantum geometry and boosts the development of twistronics.

Our faculty members are recognised for the impact and quality of their research. Prof GONG Jiangbin was appointed as a Provost Chair Professor in 2023 in recognition of his work in quantum dynamics and quantum control.