Department of Physics

Quantum science is poised to tackle problems of mind-boggling complexity, with UW faculty and students in Arts & Sciences and Computer Science & Engineering playing a key role in quantum research.

Nuclear fission has powered our world and medical advancements for decades, yet some of its secrets have remained elusive. Aurel Bulgac, professor of physics at the UW, is quoted.

Eric Adelberger, UW professor emeritus of physics, has been awarded the American Physical Society's Einstein Prize. 

The hunt for dark matter is shifting from particles to waves named after a laundry detergent. Gray Rybka, associate professor of physics at the UW, is quoted.

The College of Arts & Sciences welcomes students and their families to connect with faculty and staff, learn about a variety of topics, and explore our spaces throughout Family Weekend.

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation selected five aspiring inventors as the ninth cohort of Moore Inventor Fellows. This fellowship champions scientist-inventors who design groundbreaking tools and technologies — creative people poised to make substantial strides in scientific discovery, environmental conservation and patient care.

In the 127 years since the electron was discovered, it has undergone more scrutiny than perhaps any other particle. As a result, its properties are not just well known, but rote, textbook material. So it came as a shock last year when a new effect was seen in electrons. The UW's Matthew Yankowitz, assistant professor of both physics and materials science and engineering, and Xiaodong Xu, professor of both physics and materials science and engineering, are quoted.

The University of Washingtonâs graduate and professional degree programs were widely recognized as among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Reportâs 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings released late Monday.

Last May, a team led by physicists at the University of Washington in Seattle observed something peculiar. The University of Washington team reported the FQAHE for the first time, in a specially designed 2D material: two sheets of MoTe2 stacked on top of one another and offset by a twist. Xiaodong Xu, professor of physics at the UW, is quoted.

"The next generation of optical systems demands lenses that are not only lighter and thinner than ever before, but also uphold uncompromising image quality. This demand has fueled a surge of efforts to develop ultra-thin sub-wavelength diffractive optics, known as meta-optics. ... In a new paper published in Nature Communications, a team of researchers, led by Professor Arka Majumdar at the University of Washington, introduced a new design framework termed 'MTF-engineering,'" writes Anna Wirth-Singh, a UW doctoral student in the physics department.

Researchers led by Jiun-Haw Chu, a University of Washington associate professor of physics, and Philip Ryan, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energyâs Argonne National Laboratory, have found a superconducting material that is uniquely sensitive to outside stimuli, enabling the superconducting properties to be enhanced or suppressed at will. This discovery could enable new opportunities for switchable, energy-efficient superconducting circuits.

"The questions are long-term questions," emeritus professor Marshall Baker says of his theoretical physics, which he is still pursuing at age 91. 

In a paper published Sept. 6 in Physical Review Letters, an international team of researchers in the United States, Germany and France reported that a distinctive strategy they have used shows real promise to be the first approach to measure the mass of the neutrino. Once fully scaled up, their collaboration — Project 8 — could also reveal how neutrinos influenced the early evolution of the universe as we know it.

Kick off the Autumn quarter and celebrate a return to campus with these can’t-miss recommendations from the College of Arts & Sciences.

High school teachers spent four weeks at the UW Summer Institute in Physics and Physical Science to improve their understanding and teaching of physics.