Yongtao Cui

Scientists image conducting edges in a promising 2-D material: Experimental study done at UC Riverside and University of Washington on monolayer tungsten ditelluride could lead to more energy-efficient electronic devices

A research team comprised of scientists at the University of California, Riverside, and the University of Washington has for the first time directly imaged “edge conduction” in monolayer tungsten ditelluride, or WTe 2, a newly discovered 2-D topological insulator and quantum material. The research makes it possible to exploit this edge conduction feature to build...
By IQBAL PITTALWALA |
Vibrating universe

The vibrating universe: Making astronomy accessible to the deaf: UC Riverside astronomers develop educational workshop converting astronomical phenomena into vibrations that can be felt rather than heard

Astronomers at the University of California, Riverside, have teamed with teachers at the California School for the Deaf, Riverside, or CSDR, to design an astronomy workshop for students with hearing loss that can be easily used in classrooms, museums, fairs, and other public events. The workshop utilized a sound stage that allowed the CSDR students...
By IQBAL PITTALWALA |
e-h liquid still

UC Riverside physicists create exotic electron liquid: The first production of an electron liquid at room temperature opens the way for new optoelectronic devices and basic physics studies

By bombarding an ultrathin semiconductor sandwich with powerful laser pulses, physicists at the University of California, Riverside, have created the first “electron liquid” at room temperature. The achievement opens a pathway for development of the first practical and efficient devices to generate and detect light at terahertz wavelengths — between infrared light and microwaves. Such...
By Dennis Meredith |
Graphene

New property revealed in graphene could lead to better performing solar panels: An international research team, co-led by UC Riverside physicist, shows how pure graphene efficiently converts light into electricity

An international research team, co-led by a physicist at the University of California, Riverside, has discovered a new mechanism for ultra-efficient charge and energy flow in graphene, opening up opportunities for developing new types of light-harvesting devices. The researchers fabricated pristine graphene — graphene with no impurities — into different geometric shapes, connecting narrow ribbons...
By IQBAL PITTALWALA |
Sergio Garcia of UC Riverside will do research during the winter quarter on a particle detector at the Large Hadron Collider

Physics undergraduate student headed to CERN: Sergio Garcia of UC Riverside will do research during the winter quarter on a particle detector at the Large Hadron Collider

An undergraduate student at the University of California, Riverside, has an extraordinary opportunity to do hands-on work in one of the most famous centers for scientific research in the world. Sergio Garcia, 21, of Perris, Calif., is the first UCR student to participate in the University of Michigan Semester Abroad program, allowing him to spend...
By IQBAL PITTALWALA |
Thomas Kuhlman

Study deepens understanding of how advanced life may have emerged billions of years ago

Thomas Kuhlman, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy who came to UC Riverside from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in July 2018, is the lead author on a study that attempts to explain how advanced life may have emerged billions of years ago. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy...
By IQBAL PITTALWALA |
John Barton

HIV study explains how latent and rebound viruses are related

John Barton, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy and an expert in statistical physics and evolutionary dynamics, is a coauthor on a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that examines how latent HIV viruses – viruses that are inactive and “hiding” within cells – relate to the viruses that...
By Igbal Pittalwala |
UC Riverside’s Nathaniel Gabor and colleague formulate a vision for the field in a perspective article

Physicists name and codify new field in nanotechnology: ‘electron quantum metamaterials’: UC Riverside’s Nathaniel Gabor and colleague formulate a vision for the field in a perspective article

When two atomically thin two-dimensional layers are stacked on top of each other and one layer is made to rotate against the second layer, they begin to produce patterns — the familiar moiré patterns — that neither layer can generate on its own and that facilitate the passage of light and electrons, allowing for materials...
By IQBAL PITTALWALA |
Comparison_of_truncated_icosahedron_and_soccer_ball

Physicists explain how large spherical viruses form. UC Riverside-led study deciphers key elements for the assembly of a large virus; understanding its formation could contain viruses’ spread

A virus, the simplest physical object in biology, consists of a protein shell called the capsid, which protects its nucleic acid genome — RNA or DNA. The capsid can be cylindrical or conical in shape, but more commonly it assumes an icosahedral structure, like a soccer ball. Capsid formation is one of the most crucial...
By Iqbal Pittalwala |
Universe

Study provides new insight into why galaxies stop forming stars A team of UC Riverside-led scientists get best measure yet of why star formation stopped in galaxy clusters in the early universe

Galaxy clusters are rare regions of the universe consisting of hundreds of galaxies containing trillions of stars, as well as hot gas and dark matter. It has long been known that when a galaxy falls into a cluster, star formation is fairly rapidly shut off in a process known as “quenching.” What actually causes the...
By IQBAL PITTALWALA |

New UCR/Carnegie Collaboration in Astronomy

The University of California, Riverside, and the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena have established a UCR-Carnegie Graduate Student Fellowship program that will greatly benefit students in the university’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. At any given time, the program will support two graduate student fellows. The fellowships will be offered each year. Each fellowship is for...
By Iqbal Pittalwala |
Boerge Hemmerling optical trapping

Physicist to use optical trapping methods to study basic properties of solid-state materials

Boerge Hemmerling, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Riverside, has received a five-year grant of nearly $1 million from the National Science Foundation to study “Nonlinear Optical Properties and Novel Quantum Phases of Polar Molecules in Optical Lattices.” Hemmerling is the grant’s principal investigator. Shan-Wen Tsai, an associate professor...
By IQBAL PITTALWALA |

UCR physicists contribute to major Higgs boson discovery

On Aug. 28, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, announced that two experiment teams at the Large Hadron Collider discovered decay in the Higgs boson particle, an integral component of our universe, that was found by scientists at the center in 2012. UC Riverside physicists Gail Hanson, Robert Clare, Stephen Wimpenny, Bill...
By Iqbal Pittalwala |
Barry Barish won the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics.

Nobel Laureate Barry Barish Joins UC Riverside Faculty:

Physicist, whose contributions enabled the first observation of gravitational waves, is the university’s second Nobel Prize winner RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Physicist Barry C. Barish, who won the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery of gravitational waves, will join the faculty of the University of California, Riverside, on Sept. 1. Barish, the Linde Professor...
By Igbal Pittalwata |
Computer simulation of a region of the universe wherein a low-density “void” (dark blue region at top center) is surrounded by denser structures containing numerous galaxies (orange/white). The research done by Becker and his team suggests that early in cosmic history, these void regions would have been the murkiest places in the universe even though they contained the least amount of dark matter and gas.

Early Opaque Universe Linked to Galaxy Scarcity: Team led by UC Riverside astronomer George Becker used the Subaru telescope to make the discovery

RIVERSIDE, Calif. ( www.ucr.edu) — A team of astronomers led by George Becker at the University of California, Riverside, has made a surprising discovery: 12.5 billion years ago, the most opaque place in the universe contained relatively little matter. It has long been known that the universe is filled with a web-like network of dark...
By Iqbal Pittalwala |

NAS Committee Unanimous in Support for Proposed Particle Accelerator

On July 24, a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee issued a report of its findings and conclusions related to the science case for a future U.S.-based Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a particle accelerator in which electrons collide with atomic nuclei. Four University of California campuses (UC Riverside, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Davis) and the...
By Iqbal Pittalwala |
Particle physicist Hai-Bo Yu is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at UC Riverside. Photo credit: I. Pittalwala, UC Riverside.

In Search of Dark Matter: Researchers, including a UC Riverside particle physicist, interpret new experimental data aimed at showing dark matter interacts with ordinary matter — an unmet challenge in modern physics

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — An international team of scientists that includes University of California, Riverside, physicist Hai-Bo Yu has imposed conditions on how dark matter may interact with ordinary matter — constraints that can help identify the elusive dark matter particle and detect it on Earth. Dark matter — nonluminous material in space — is understood...
By Iqbal Pittalwala |
Jing Shi, a professor of physics

Research Center Receives Additional Funding From Department of Energy: SHINES at UC Riverside pursues fundamental advances in energy production, storage, and use

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Spins and Heat in Nanoscale Electronic Systems center, known as SHINES, at the University of California, Riverside, has received funding for two more years from the Department of Energy. SHINES received $12 million from the department in 2014. The new funding of $1.9 million is part of $100 million in funding...
By Iqbal Pittalwala |
Live interview with Mario De Leo Winkler

Facebook Live interview with Mario De Leo Winkler

Facebook Live interview with Mario De Leo Winkler - View video here
By Iqbal Pittalwala |
Kenneth Barish (standing), the chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, welcomed the participants with opening remarks.

Teaching the Teachers: Weeklong Summer Physics Teacher Academy at UC Riverside serves a large region in Southern California

Kenneth Barish (standing), the chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, welcomed the participants with opening remarks. Kenneth Barish, the chair of the UC Riverside Department of Physics and Astronomy, formally began the Summer Physics Teacher Academy this year with opening remarks that included the following sobering statistics: Nationally, 33 percent of high school...
By Iqbal Pittalwala |
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