Research Areas

Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

The Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO) Physics group has theoretical and experimental components. The theoretical group studies the dynamics of electrons in isolated atoms and molecules elicited by light pulses and electron projectiles.

Soft Condensed Matter and Biological Physics

The Soft Condensed Matter and Biological Physics group focuses on theoretical, computational, experimental, as well as clinical research. The experimental work involves various spectroscopic studies of proteins under high pressure and other extreme conditions.

Quantum Information Science

Quantum processing machines can, in principle, outperform some of our current information technologies. For instance, anyone possessing a computer capable of implementing a quantum factoring algorithm will gain virtual access to most secure communications as well as databases.

Planetary Sciences

The UCF Planetary Sciences Group uses spacecraft data, images from the world’s most powerful telescopes, meteorites and moon rocks, and supercomputer calculations to investigate fundamental questions like these:  How did our solar system form? What do the surfaces of other worlds tell us about their history?

Mathematical Physics

The Mathematical Physics group consists of one faculty member and one distinguished affiliated faculty. The research interests of the group are Conformal Field Theory, Integrable Models in Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory, Supersymmetry, String Theory.

Physics Education Research

Physics Education Research at UCF is led by two tenure-track assistant professors. Both Dr. Jackie Chini and Dr. Zhongzhou Chen. We study issues relevant to the evolving landscape of higher education in physics and collaborate with colleagues in related disciplines.

Condensed Matter Physics

Condensed-matter physics (CMP) deals with the properties of matter in either a solid or liquid state. The approach taken is to apply fundamental physical laws obtained from quantum mechanics, electrodynamics, and thermodynamics to the description of matter in condensed phases.

Computational Physics

Computational physics (CP) is an approach to physics that uses computers to solve problems where a theories exist but the resulting equations are intractable to traditional analytical approaches. This area is relatively new, but continues to grow in relevance as computational power and algorithms evolve.