Research in optical physics covers a wide range of activities related to photons and their interaction with various materials. Experimental and theoretical research is ongoing to provide innovative solutions to today’s problems in both fundamental and application. The goals are the development of novel nanoelectronic and nanophotonic devices, creative solutions for homeland security, renewable energies, biological and biomedical investigations, solar harvesting, and smart lighting.

Theoretical and computational studies performed include the electronic structure of nanostructured material, models for the structure and electronic properties of surfaces and interfaces and the binding and mobility of adsorbed atoms on metal surfaces, molecular electronics and spintronics, as well as developing understanding of far-from-equilibrium physics.

Current research focuses on determining the location of dark matter in the Milky Way.  We perform n-body simulations of the tidal disruption of dwarf galaxies in the Milky Way halo, using MilkyWay@home, a 0.5 PetaFLOPS volunteer computing platform built in-house. We compare the simulations to actual Milky Way data to determine the best parameters for the simulations, thus constraining the amount and distribution of dark matter in the halo.