Physics
About
The ANU Research School of Physics constitutes Australia’s largest university-based physics research activity, incorporating major national facilities, national networks, a significant technical manufacturing and prototyping capability, as well as an innovative teaching program.
Our research activity includes nonlinear and quantum optics and quantum systems engineering, soft and hard condensed matter physics, III-V semiconductor physics, nano-engineered and meso-scale materials, nuclear physics, novel imaging technologies and plasma science.
Our researchers have played important roles in some of the most significant breakthroughs in physics, including proving the existence of gravitational waves in 2016.
The observation of a gravitational wave, ripples in space caused by the collision of two black holes, confirms a prediction made by Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity 100 years ago, and opens up new fields in physics and astrophysics.
The important role that our researchers played included constructing, installing and commissioning crucial components of the detectors used by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States.
Fundamental and applied research, just like this, also sparks the development of novel technologies and have seen a number of successful spin-out companies go global.
In 2009 Lithicon, then named Digitalcore, spun out of the Research School of Physics and Engineering. The big commercial step was taken after 10 years of fundamental research by ANU scientists. Their research combined novel scanning technology and advanced computer algorithms to produce high-resolution 3D images and simulations of fluids in oil reservoir rocks.
Fast forward to February 2014, and Lithicon was acquired for $US8 million by microscopic technology company FEI, cementing a very special research relationship with ANU.
Facilities
The Centre for Advanced Microscopy (CAM) provides state-of-the art microscopy and microanalysis equipment to researchers, students and industry partners.
The HIAF comprises one of the world’s largest 14UD pelletron accelerators and a superconducting “booster” linear accelerator (LINAC) housed and operated by ANU.
The 348-hectare ANU Kioloa Coastal Campus is one of Australia’s premier field stations, offering a diverse ecology which encourages research across all scientific disciplines.
The ANU MakerSpace is an initiative by the Research School of Physics and Engineering, where we know people learn by doing.
The National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) is home to the Southern Hemisphere’s most highly-integrated supercomputer and filesystems, Australia’s highest performance research cloud, and one of the nation’s largest data catalogues—all supported by an expert team.
The CPAS Podcast Studio is open to staff and students throughout ANU (not just scientists!) to record and grow podcast series. Your success is our success: we want to help you make the biggest and best podcast series in the world.
Our new $240-million science precinct on the ANU campus has state-of-the-art biological and chemical research laboratories, as well as a teaching hub.
News
New nanotechnology developed by ANU physicists will help scientists better understand and fight certain diseases by zooming in on cells and viruses at 10 times the resolution of today’s microscopes.
We now know more about the diet of a prehistoric creature that grew up to two and a half metres long and lived in Australian waters during the time of the dinosaurs, thanks to the power of x-rays.
Researchers have developed new technology that could usher in the “next-generation” of thinner, higher-resolution and more energy efficient screens and electronic devices.
To mark International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the joint conveners of ANU Women* in Physics, Astro and Engineering, Dr Noemie Bastidon and Dr Julie Tournet, were in conversation with ANU alumni Professor Melanie Campbell from the University of Waterloo.
Go behind the mission to get a new mothball-fueled satellite thruster to space.
New research published in Nature Physics, outlines a way to achieve more accurate measurements of microscopic objects using quantum computers. This could prove useful in a huge range of next-generation technologies, including biomedical sensing, laser ranging and quantum communications.