NISMEC The Northern Indiana Science Mathematics and Engineering Center
George Rickey Sculptures -
Ideas/lesson plans, etc, for linking science, math, art and other topics in the K-12 grades:
Check out our George Rickey website for some lesson plans
and other information about the Notre Dame and South Bend sculpture exhibits |
 |
Physics Research
Our experimental atomic physics program consists of atomic structure and atomic collision studies of fast highly-charged atomic ions.
Principal areas of current interest involve precision tests of relativistic many-body structure,
and collison studies of the interaction of fast ions and molecules with solids and solid surfaces.
[Mostly collaborative work with Dr. Tapan Nandi at the Inter-University Accelerator Center in New Delhi, India;
and with Dr. Roger Hutton at the EBIT facility, Fudan University, Shanghai].
Since 2004, the Notre Dame area of research has been greatly reduced; several laser setups allowed direct excitation of ion-beams and other targets for high-precision atomic structure studies.
The studies included (see list of publications):
- precision absorption and lifetime studies in cesium to provide low energy tests of parity non-conservation;
- spectroscopic studies of multiply-excited high-spin states of relevance to new xuv lasers.
The laboratory (Nieuwland B084, etc) was transferred in August 2008 to the Dean for his experimental program;
at this time (August 2009), he has never moved into the space (in the summer of 2012, he instead moved his office into the Jordan Hall of Science,
taking over the two labs where we have conducted professional development summer workshops for K-12 teachers during the past 4 years) ; a new program of low energy collisions has begun in the smaller APAL II lab in Nieuwland 380, in collaboration with
Professor Grant Matthews.
This lab also houses loan materials for the use of modern technology techniques in high-school and middle school science classrooms. The educational outreach program is described at the
NISMEC website.
Activities
Some Recent invited talks
Colloquium - Physics Department, University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo, MI, 23 November 2009 Slides (pdf)
Invited presentation at the NMSA (National Middle School Association) annual meeting, 5 November 2009, Indianapolis, IN Slides (pdf)
Colloquium - Physics Department, University of Notre Dame, 30 April 2009
Slides , and
Handouts
and both in pdf format.
Colloquium - Physics Department, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NB, 9 April 2009
Milton meets Einstein (PPT file,
pdf file]
The Walter Johnson Symposium at Notre Dame 4-5 April 2008 -
program, talks, and photos...
Conference on The Spectroscopy of Highly Charged Ions:
Not Just the Light at the End of an Accelerator, 25-27th September 2003, Lund, Sweden,
A Brief and Personalized History of Doubly-excited States.
Colloquium - Physics Department, University of Toledo, Toledo, Jan 30, 2003, Atomic tests of parity non-conservation.
Christian Educators Association Annual Meeting, South Bend, Indiana, Oct 18, 2001,
Re-Educating Teachers (K-12) about Modern Science.
Colloquium - Physics Department, University of Nevada, Reno, April 2001,
Recent atomic structure and lifetime measurements at Notre Dame.
Seminar - Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Ionique et Moléculaire, Ion spectroscopy group, University of Lyon, France,
Search for highly excited sextet transitions, Jun 2001.
Colloquium - Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Ionique et Moléculaire, University of Lyon, France,
Effects of negative energy states on magnetic dipole transitions in helium, July 2000
Information and pictures about Mary and Gordon's family and friends
