 Oskar Painter, Associate Professor of Applied Physics, has developed a nanoscale device that can be used for force detection, optical communication, and more. The nanoscale device is called a zipper cavity because of the way its dual cantilevers-or nanobeams, as Painter calls them-move together and apart when the device is in use. "If you look at it, it actually looks like a zipper," Painter notes. The device exploits the mechanical properties of light to create an optomechanical cavity in which interactions between light and motion are greatly strengthened and enhanced. These interactions are the largest demonstrated to date. Read more... 07.02.09
 Graduate student Michael Winterrose, and Brent Fultz, professor of materials science and applied physics, and colleagues, describe the exotic behavior of materials existing at high pressures in a paper in the June 12th issue of Physical Review Letters. By squeezing a typical metal alloy at pressures hundreds of thousands of times greater than normal atmospheric pressure, the material does not expand when heated, as does nearly every normal metal, and acts like a metal with an entirely different chemical composition. This insight into the behavior of materials existing at high pressures becomes doubly interesting when you consider that some 90 percent of the matter in our solar system exists at these high pressures. Read more... 07.01.09
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 Robert McEliece, Allen E. Puckett Professor and Professor of Electrical Engineering, has won the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal for exceptional contributions to the advancement of communications sciences and engineering. In particular, McEliece is being recognized for fundamental contributions to the theory and practice of error-correcting codes and to the design of deep space telecommunication systems. 06.24.09
 Professor G. Ravichandran, the John E. Goode, Jr. Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering, and Director of GALCIT has been elected Fellow of the Society of Experimental Mechanics. Designation as an SEM Fellow is reserved to a select group of individuals that have made notable contributions to the Society and to the field of Experimental Mechanics. 06.17.09
Caltech's 115th Commencement Ceremony was held on Friday, June 12th. The graduates were addressed by Steven Chu, renowned physicist, U.S. Secretary of Energy, and Nobel Laureate. Read more... 06.15.09 |
 Sheila Shull has won one of the two 2009 Schmitt Staff Prizes! The Schmitt
Prize recognizes a staff member of the Caltech community whose contributions
embody the values and spirit that enable the Institute to achieve excellence
in research and education. Sheila has been with Applied and Computational
Mathematics (ACM) for almost 30 years and takes care of almost every aspect
of the day-to-day activities in ACM, including proposal submission and grant
management; management of staff members, visitors, and students;
organization of international conferences; recruitment of students and
instructors; utilization of space; and, most importantly, "care and feeding"
of the ACM faculty, which is not without its challenges. As one of her
nominators wrote: "It is people like her, in direct daily contact with
faculty and students, that truly define the atmosphere in our Institute."
Kudos Sheila! Read more... 06.08.09
 DOE Names Harry Atwater as Director of EFRC Focusing on Light-Material Interactions. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science has announced that it will fund the creation of 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) over the next five years, including one that will be housed at Caltech. That $15 million EFRC will be headed by Harry Atwater, the Howard Hughes Professor and professor of applied physics and materials science. Read more... 05.11.09
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