RESERCH AT SPST

 PHYSICS RESEARCH

SPST faculty, scientists and students pioneer collaborative and multi-disciplinary research that enables impactful technologies for widespread and cross-cutting applications. Home to world-class research centers and cutting-edge facilities, SPST is renowned as a excellent research center in physics. Research at the school is enriched by the high-tech industrial ecosystem in Sichuan province that provides synergistic partnership opportunities.

Research focus areas include:

Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics 

Plasma Physics

Condensed, Soft and Biological Matter Physics

High Energy Physics (Particle Physics)

Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics

Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics

Atomic, molecular, and optical physics (AMO) is, as its name suggests, the branch of physics that studies the interactions of atoms, molecules, and light. AMO physics lies behind much of the physics of lasers and other everyday devices. You may have recently heard about AMO in connection with the Nobel Prize in physics --- several recent prizes have gone to AMO physicists.

Another theory group is working on the electronic structure of atoms, the breaking and formation of chemical bonds in intense pulses of laser light, and on interactions of light and ions with surfaces and nanoparticles. A third group of AMO theorists models how laser light can be used to accelerate atomic and molecular electrons, such that they scatter in a controllable way off their parent atoms or molecules, leading to bursts of secondary energetic radiation and allowing the imaging of molecular structures.

Plasma Phyiscs

Aiming at constructing and operating the Chinese First Quasi-axisymmetry Stellarator (CFQS) device in SPST, the research work covers a broad range from theoretical simulations and experimental studies, the development of diagnostics to investigation of fusion materials and engineering technologies. In the future, they will be devoted to exploration of basic and novel physical subjects in magnetically confined fusion plasmas based on the advanced configuration of the CFQS device.

Condensed, Soft and Biological Matter Physics

Controlled assembly of nanoparticles into two and three-dimensional solids, atoms and polymers adsorbed on surfaces, growth of nanowires and their interface to living cells, stretching single molecules, magnetic vortices and materials, nanolithography and nucleation of soot in flames; these are all among the many subjects of soft matter physics at SPST. Our eclectic soft matter group works at the interface between physics, chemistry and biology to understand how the manifold properties of soft matter emerge. Our research extends to biophysics and solid state.

High Energy Physics (Particle Physics)

Have you ever wondered what the smallest indivisible particles of matter and energy might be? SPST particle physicists use some of the largest scientific instruments on Earth to measure the smallest constituents of matter and energy in the universe. Such elementary particles include quarks, which are the building blocks of the protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei, and neutrinos, which are practically invisible particles emitted by stars and decaying nuclei.

Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics

Have you ever wondered about the physical properties of the universe on the largest scale? SPST cosmologists study the structure and nature of matter and energy on a literally cosmic scale using data from the world's most advanced telescopes and satellites and scientific theories from every field of physical science, including particle physics. Sometimes it is even possible to use the cosmos itself as a scientific instrument: for example, an upper limit on the neutrino mass can be derived from the realization that neutrinos fill the universe and yet do not cause it to collapse.