The Center for Applied Physics Science (CAPS) was founded in 1997 and has been identified
by the University of Louisiana System as a Center of Excellence at Louisiana Tech
University. The center is located in the Engineering Annex Building and has 20,000
sq. ft. of office and laboratory space. CAPS provides a world-class research and education
environment that integrates both engineering and physics disciplines, creating opportunities
for interdisciplinary studies, the sharing of resources, and the transfer of technology
from basic science to applications. The center brings together faculty with diverse
academic backgrounds and serves the educational need of the Physics, Chemistry and
Electrical Engineering Programs at Louisiana Tech University.
CAPS is one of the premium research centers on campus with current research efforts
spanning diverse areas of nuclear and elementary particle physics, photonics, computational
physics, materials by design, nanotechnology, and bio-physics. Our faculty is participating
in large scale national and international projects hosted by the Thomas Jefferson
National Accelerator Lab, the Fermi National Accelerator Lab, the European Center
for Particle Physics (CERN), and LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational wave Observatory).
CAPS researchers lead and actively participate in collaborative research involving
other centers on campus, such as the Institute for Micromanufacturing (IfM), the Trenchless
Technology Center (TTC), and the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitation
Science (CBERS).
Dentcho Angelov Genov, Ph.D.
Director of the Center for Applied Physics Studies
John J. Cordaro/Entergy LP&L/ NOPSI Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering
College of Engineering and Science
Engineering Annex, Room 220
Louisiana Tech University
Ruston, LA 71272
Phone: (318) 257-4190, Fax: 1 (318) 257-2777
E-mail: dgenov@latech.edu
Facilities
The Center for Applied Studies (CAPS) is located in Engineering Annex Facility and
offers:
- ~20,000 ft2 of laboratory and office space,
- Machine shop, Electronic lab, Dark Room,
- Cerberus: 25-node community cluster with 908 cores and over 70 TB of combined storage,
- Shared human resources – technical and secretarial staff,
- 16 faculty from physics, electrical engineering, biology and math, and
- 2Tflops, 70TB community cluster.
ATLAS Experiment
ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC Apparatus) is the larger of two general purpose detectors located
at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland. This
experiment is one of the largest collaborations in particle physics consisting of
38 countries, 174 universities and labs, 3000 scientists, and approximately 1000 students.
The ATLAS detector is used to collect data from the proton-proton collisions of the
LHC using high-resolution calorimeters and large superconductors. Louisiana Tech is
particularly interested in data captured at ATLAS, so we may
- search for the Higgs,
- analyze the final state of Tau lepton events,
- refine how data is collected and jets are produced,
- study quantum chromodynamics,
- measure the strong coupling constant, and
- study top quark physics.
A particle closely matching the Higgs boson has been detected at ATLAS and the other
general purpose experiment CMS and was announced in July 2012. Since the original
announcement and using twice the data, the confidence of the observation of the Higgs
boson has risen to 10 sigma. The Chi B (3P) particle was also discovered by ATLAS
and was the first particle discovered at the LHC. The LCH has been in the process
of upgrading and is to begin the collection of new data at twice the energy in 2015.
Computational Physics
The ever-increasing computational capabilities have become the third pillar of science
in par with theory and experiment. Scientific computation can provide a competitive
edge in solving fundamental problems or developing new technological solutions. Louisiana
Tech University is one of the six research institutions that form the backbone of
the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI), a $50M investment in the State’s
IT infrastructure. Our faculty work with top- high-performance computing (HPC) resources
including the LONI’s supercomputer Queen Bee 2, ranked #46 in the world at the time
of commissioning (November 20014), and the local CAPS community cluster Cerberus. The main research topics related to HPC and investigated by our faculty include
- Grid and cloud computing,
- Numerical methods for partial differential equations related to electromagnetic, acoustic,
elastic, thermal and fluid problems,
- Interface and inverse problems,
- Atomic and coarse-grained simulations; multi-state models of DNA, nucleosomes, and
chromatin,
- Multi-scale simulations of organic conductors and nanostructures, and
- Computational chemistry, structure, energetics, and reactivity of organolithium compounds;
catalytic reactions of oxide clusters and surfaces.
DZero Experiment
D∅ is one of the two major experiments on the Tevatron collider at the Fermi National
Accelerator Laboratory (or, Fermilab), near Batavia IL. For this project, an international
collaborative team of scientists conducts research into the fundamental nature of
matter. The Tevatron has commenced RunII. Louisiana Tech is partly responsible for:
- designing, installing and operating the Inter Cryostat Detector (ICD) subsystem;
- designing and building electronics for part of the D∅ Calorimeter;
- writing software for the data acquisition systems;
- helping to install and commission the detector next year; and
- taking data and studying physics with the completed experiment.
Highlights
- One of two collider experiments at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near
Chicago
- Highest energy proton-antiproton collisions in the world
- Discovered the top quark, single top production, oscillations of the Bs mesons, the cascadeb baryon
- Large international collaboration (over 50 institutions, over 500 scientists and engineers)
- Optimized to look for new physics, measure particle energies well, provide nearly
complete detector coverage
- Upgraded in 1995-2000 with portions built at Louisiana Tech
Please visit the D∅ experiment homepage for more information.
LIGO
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is located in Livingston, Louisiana. LIGO is designed to open the field of
gravitational-wave astrophysics through the direct detection of gravitational waves
predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. LIGO’s multi-kilometer-scale
gravitational wave detectors use laser interferometry to measure the minute ripples
in space-time caused by passing gravitational waves from cataclysmic cosmic sources
such as the mergers of pairs of neutron stars or black holes, or by supernovae. LIGO
consists of two widely separated interferometers within the United States—one in Hanford,
Washington and the other in Livingston, Louisiana—operated in unison to detect gravitational
waves.
LIGO is a national facility for gravitational-wave research, providing opportunities
for the broader scientific community to participate in detector development, observation,
and data analysis. The capabilities of the LIGO detectors were greatly improved with
the completion of the Advanced LIGO project in late 2014. The Advanced LIGO detectors
will increase the sensitivity and observational range of LIGO by a factor of 10 over
its predecessor, bringing 1000 times more galaxies into LIGO’s observational range.
The design and construction of LIGO were carried out by LIGO Laboratory’s team of
scientists, engineers, and staff at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and collaborators from the over
80 scientific institutions worldwide that are members of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. The responsibilities of LIGO Laboratory include operating the LIGO detectors, research,
and development aimed at further improving the capabilities of the LIGO detectors,
research in the fundamental physics of gravitation, astronomy, and astrophysics, and
public education and outreach. LIGO is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation
and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Photonics, Materials, and Sensors
The dramatic advances in nano-manufacturing have revolutionized the fields of optics
and electronics. Composite materials referred to as electromagnetic metamaterials
can provide the means to precisely control the flow of light and overcome previously
believed physical limitations such as the diffraction of light. This is accomplished
by precise nano-engineering of the composite materials which is equivalent to virtually
creating new types of quasi-atoms and quasi-molecules. The potential of the field
of metamaterials has been broadly recognized by the scientific community with the
TIME magazine including it as one of the Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of 2008. The Center for Applied Physics Studies (CAPS) has been at the forefront
of this emerging interdisciplinary field of study with our faculty working on:
- metamaterials and electromagnetic invisibility devices,
- optical traps and mimicking gravitational effects in the lab,
- plasmonic and nanophotonic devices,
- optoelectronics devices operating at switching rates up to 1THz,
- enhanced photovoltaic elements and solar cells,
- thermal and microwave sensors,
- electromagnetic radiation of biological tissue and
- sub-diffraction optical microscopy.
QWEAK Experiment
The Qweak is an international collaboration experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Virginia. The purpose of Qweak is to measure the weak mixing angle at high precision
and look for new physics beyond the Standard Model. The weak force plays an important
role in the processes of nuclear decays but is difficult to measure. Louisiana Tech
University is responsible for the construction and installation of the forward tracking
chamber for Qweak. Read more about the Qweak collaboration on the facility website.
