Welcome to the Department of Physics
As a department, we are a community of more than 150, including faculty, administrative staff, postdocs, visiting scientists, and graduate and undergraduate students. Devoted to our teaching, service, and research missions, all of our 19 faculty teach lecture courses and actively involve students in their research.
Our research program is “decidedly noncomprehensive,” with intentional foci on fundamental and applied condensed matter and nanoscale physics. Our campus home is Higgins Hall, located at the heart of the BC Chestnut Hill campus at the western edge of Boston, and fully renovated in 2002 with state-of-the-art teaching and research laboratories.
News and Notes
Featured Recent Publications
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Electronic nematicity without charge density waves in titanium-based kagome metal
We use spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy to discover spontaneous rotation symmetry breaking of the electronic structure, or electronic nematicity, in a new kagome metal.
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Visualization of bulk and edge photocurrent flow in anisotropic Weyl semimetals
Quantum sensors reveal that the anisotropy in the thermoelectric properties of Weyl semimetals generates spontaneous, circulating photocurrents.
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Dual quantum spin Hall insulator by density-tuned correlations in TaIrTe4
A study reports a dual quantum spin Hall insulator in monolayer TaIrTe4, arising from the interplay of its single-particle topology and density-tuned electron correlations.
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Engineering Anomalously Large Electron Transport in Topological Semimetals
This work demonstrates the dramatic mobility enhancements result from phonons primarily returning momentum to electrons due to phonon-electron dominating over phonon–phonon scattering.
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Low-temperature thermal and physical properties of lunar meteorites
We have made the first low-temperature (5–300 K) measurements of thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, and the coefficient of thermal expansion for six lunar meteorites, materials derived from the surface of the Moon.
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Radio-frequency manipulation of state populations in an entangled fluorine-muon-fluorine system
Entangled spin states are created by implanting muons into single-crystal LiY0.95Ho0.05F4 to form a cluster of dipole-coupled magnetic moments. The time evolution of the muon spin polarization can be manipulated by a radiofrequency field, and calculated via a model of a quantum cluster interacting with a classical, oscillating magnetic field.
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Chern Fermi pocket, topological pair density wave, and charge-4e and charge-6e superconductivity in kagome superconductors
We find that the pairing of electrons on the Chern Fermi pockets leads to a superconducting state with an emergent vortex-antivortex lattice and the formation of a complex triple-Q pair density wave.
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High-frequency phonons drive large phonon-drag thermopower in semiconductors at high carrier density
Unexpectedly large electron-phonon drag enhancements of the thermopowers are found in certain heavily-doped semiconductors, even at room temperature from first principles calculations.
Undergraduate Research Opportunities
The Department of Physics at Boston College offers a 100% guarantee that a research opportunity will be made available to all physics majors that seek one, providing they meet the required criteria.
We go to great lengths to honor this commitment.
Spotlight Resources
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Teaching Laboratories
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Integrated Sciences Cleanroom and
Nanofabrication FacilityOpen to both Boston College and external users, this laboratory is home to more than 30 high-end micro and nanoscale instrumentation systems worth several million dollars.
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REU: Integrated Science For Society
The Boston College Research Experience for Undergraduates (BC-REU) provided a unique opportunity for 10 undergraduates in 2017, 2018, and 2019 to work in teams across disciplines, focusing on scientific solutions to energy and biological problems.