October 2001     Volume 9, No. 7

Where is physics? It is not now and never was isolated in university departments. A generation ago, physicists made common cause with electrical engineers to build the radar facilities that played such a key role in World War II; they partnered with industrial engineers, chemical engineers, and metallurgists to construct the vast nuclear plants that have produced both electricity and weapons. More recently, physicists have been entering into new partnerships with industry as they construct the infinitesimal circuits and machines of nanotechnology. They have joined with biologists: Perhaps in the not-too-distant future they will use optical tweezers to rearrange the genetic code. They have begun to explore radical new ideas of quantum computing. Physicists are to be found in NASA, in industries, and, increasingly, on Wall Street as techniques born in the study of physical systems begin to play an important role in examining the dynamics of stocks, bonds, options, and hedge funds. Physics is large in the vast national laboratories of Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Fermilab, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), and Brookhaven. Physics is small in the start-up optics company or in the bench-top experiments that are reconfiguring the study of new materials, optical phenomena, biophysics, and magnetic media.

Physics in a New Era – An Overview
National Research Council

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General News

Loren Acton spent the week at the end of September in Almaty, Kazakhstan, attending the 17th annual congress of the Association of Space Explorers.  It was a small meeting this year (24 astro/ cosmonauts attended) because of the 9/11 events.  It was exciting to visit the famous Baikonor Cosmodrome and see the Russian launch facilities spread out across the steppe and to hear, at a session on the history of spaceflight, personal stories of the very earliest manned missions of the USSR.

The Montana Space Grant BOREALIS high altitude ballooning program had a successful fourth flight on Saturday, Oct. 27, setting a new altitude record of 110,000 feet, over 20 miles above sea level, above 99% of the Earth's atmosphere. The severely clear weather made

the balloon visible to the naked eye all the way to burst, to the amazement of all. Once again (three out of four times now!) our payload landed within a few hundred feet of a paved road.  For more details and pictures, visit the BOREALIS web site at:

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Publications

Systematics of 4f electron energies relative to host bands by resonant photoemission of rare earth doped optical materials, C. W. Thiel, H. Cruguel, Y. Sun, G. J. Lapeyre, R. M. Macfarlane, R. W. Equall, and R. L. Cone, J. Lumin. 94-95, 1-6 (2001).

Diode laser frequency stabilization to transient spectral holes and spectral diffusion in Er³⁺: Y₂SiO₅ at 1536 nm, Thomas Böttger, Y. Sun, G.J. Pryde, G. Reinemer, and R.L. Cone, J. Lumin. 94-95, 55-58 (2001).

Numerical modeling of laser stabilization by regenerative spectral hole burning, G. J. Pryde, T. Böttger, and R. L. Cone, J. Lumin. 94-95, 76-80 (2001).

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Invited Talks

Optical Devices Based on Spectral Hole Burning Materials, Rufus L. Cone, Physics Colloquium, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, October 11, 2001.

"Origin and Evolution of Filament-Prominence Systems", Piet Martens, Prominence Research: Observations and Models, Sac Peak, Oct. 12.

"What Space Grant Can Do For Planetaria", Mike Murray, Western Alliance of Planetariums conference, Oct. 4-8, Eugene, OR, and at a Mars Workshop organized by Cheri Morrow of the Space Science Institute.

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Contributed Talks

"The Sun Studied from Space: How the Sun Influences the Earth", Piet Martens, EdPARC conference, Bozeman, Oct. 8.

"MEROPE-Montana's First Satellite", Mike Obland, Western Regional Space Grant Meeting, Warm Springs, OR, Oct. 18-21.

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Proposals Submitted

"Modeling of a diode pumped continuous wave optical parametric oscillator in a KTP waveguide", NASA EPSCoR, Kevin Repasky.

Co-I's: Robert Madsen (Chief Dull Knife College), Mike Murray (MSU), Dan Williams (Fort Peck Community College), Timothy Olson (Salish-Kootenai College), Kris Cunningham (Little Big Horn College), Jeff Adams (MSU), David McKenzie (MSU), Scott Sandness (Southwest Montana Astronomical Society). Piet Martens submitted a supplemental proposal to the NSF to finance the Yohkoh 10 meeting participation of more young scientists.

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Colloquia

“Applications of Ion Channeling and Backscattering to the Study of Metal/Metal Interface Structure”, Prof. R.J. SMITH, Montana State University, Oct. 5.

“An Overview of the International Space Station”, John Shebalin, NASA Johnson Space Center, Oct. 12.

“Simulating Solar Prominences in Laboratory Experiments”, Paul M. Bellan, Caltech Applied Physics Dept, Oct. 19.

“NMR Imaging of Transport Phenomena in Granular Flow”, Joseph D. Seymour, Department of Chemical Engineering, Montana State University, Oct. 26.

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Seminars

Condensed Matter Seminar

“Characterization of PdAu Thin Films on Silicon Wafers: Interdiffusion and Reaction”, Recep Avci, Oct. 1.

“Beyond Rutherford Backscattering”, Dick Smith, Oct. 31.

Rel/Astro/Solar Seminar

 “The theory of flux constraints in three-dimensional coronal magnetic fields” Longcope?  Belz?  Oct. 4.

“The Statistical Mechanics of Ideal Turblance”, John Shebalin, NASA Johnson Space Center, Oct.11.

“Precessing Neutron Stars”, Bennett Link, Oct. 18.

"Do SNe Ia Provide Direct Evidence for Past Deceleration of the Universe?", by M. S. Turner and Adam G. Riess, Oct. 22.

“A Poor Man's Gravitational Waves", Louis Rubbo, Oct. 25.

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Conferences and Other Travel

Loren Acton attended the 17th annual congress of the Association of Space Explorers, Almaty, Kazakhstan, Sept. 23-30.

Dave Klumpar participate in the Conference on the Nightside Magnetosphere at Yellowstone National Park, Sept. 30-Oct. 6.

Charles Kankelborg traveled to Palo Alto, CA, for collaboration on the MOSES Project; and meet with LMSAL Co-I, Oct. 2-6.

Bill Hiscock attended the National Underground Science Conference in Lead, South Dakota, Oct. 4-7. He presented a presentation on how the proposed National Underground Science Laboratory (NUSL) could be integrated with EPSCoR programs in the nearby states. He also was able to descend to the 4850 foot level of the Homestake mine, to visit the solar neutrino detector of Ray Davis. This instrument provided the experimental proof that the Sun's energy comes from nuclear fusion.

Rufus Cone traveled to Athens, GA, for colloquium presentation and technical discussions at the Physics Dept., Univ. of GA, Oct. 9-22.

Piet Martens gave a presentation in Sacramento Peak, NM, Oct. 10-17.

Gerald Lapeyre traveled to Madison, WI, and Berkeley, CA, for users meetings at the SRC and ALS, Oct. 10-18.

Neil Cornish spoke at the American Mathematical Society Meeting in Williamstown, MA, Oct. 11-14.

Ron Hellings traveled to Pasadena, CA, to collaborate with T. Moore of Pomona College, and Shane Larson of Cal Tech on joint research project.

Richard Canfield gave a lecture to Rose City Astronomers in Portland, OR, Oct. 13-17.

Mikhail Drobijev attended the OSA Annual Meeting/ILS-XVII in Long Beach, CA, Oct. 13-20.

Elizabeth Noonan traveled to Ithaca, NY, for fabrication of wave guides at Cornell Nanofabrication Facility, Oct. 14-28.

Yves Idzerda attended and gave a talk at the Advanced Light Source Workshop, Berkeley, CA, Oct. 15-17.  Yves also attended a PCSI Organizing Committee Meeting in San Mateo, CA, Oct. 27-29.

George Tuthill traveled to Washington, DC, to give an invited talk at the NFIE Symposium, Oct. 18-21.

Bill Hiscock, Laurie Howell, David Klumpar, and Mike Obland attended the Western Regional Space Grant Meeting at the Kah-nee-ta resort on the Confederated Tribes reservation in Warm Springs, Oregon, Oct. 18-20. Bill organized, introduced, and chaired a session on Space Grant Student Satellite Programs, in which Mike Obland presented a talk on "MEROPE -- Montana's first satellite". Bill also presented an overview of the MSGC/NASA Ames SHARP re-entry vehicle project. Craig Zaspel attended the Midwest Solid State Conference in Rapid City, SD, Oct. 18-21.

John Belz performed HiRes Cosmic Ray Observatory operations in Salt Lake City, UT, Oct. 19-22.  John attended a meeting at Nevis Laboratory in new York City, NY, Oct. 31-Nov. 4.

Larry Kirkpatrick traveled to Rochester, NY, to participate in the AIP Industrial Physics Forum, Oct. 20-23.

Loren Acton attended the AURA Solar Observatory Council (SOC) meeting in Tucson, AZ, Oct. 30 & 31. 

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Alumni

Brett Taylor (PhD ‘99) says “Things here (Radford University) are going quite well.  It's certainly been nice having Rhett Herman and Tanaka here.  It's been busy, but that's a good sign.  The department is certainly growing (at least the physics part - we're joint with chemistry).  Astronomy has gone from 1 section to 7 since last year and it could grow even bigger if we had more manpower teaching labs.  As it is, Tanaka and I have 3 sections each of astronomy plus one other class each.”

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