FACULTY OF SCIENCE SCHOOL OF PHYSICS 2010 ANNUAL REPORT “Physics is more than ‘just another subject’ at the School of Physics — there are many opportunities for interested students to go further. The researchers here are passionate about what they do and they inspire the same passion in the next generation of scientists.” EMMA LINDLEY BACHELOR OF SCIENCE MAJORING IN PHYSICS AND TSP STUDENT CONTENTS 2 Welcome from the Head of School 3 School of Physics Sta! 6 Teaching & Learning 7 Teaching Report 2010 10 Talented Students Program 11 Student Prizes and Scholarships 12 Physics Outreach 13 The Science Foundation for Physics 14 ISS2011: Light & Matter 15 Research 16 Research Highlights 2010 18 Grant Income 2010 21 Sta! Publications 2010 22 A New Building for Physics: The AIN 24 Research Pro"les 75 Publications 76 Books and Chapters 77 Refereed Journal Publications 93 Refereed Conference Publications 97 Financial Statements CONTACT School of Physics The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia T +61 2 9351 2537 F +61 2 9351 7726 E [email protected] sydney.edu.au/science/physics 2 WELCOME HEAD OF SCHOOL Professor Clive Baldock The School continued to increase its year-on-year publications Head of School School of Physics with 474 total articles 2010. The School continued in 2010 with healthy numbers in the undergraduate years. Honours and PhD continued to show year-on-year growth. In a School such as the School of Physics there are many events and prizes and success stories. I would like to mention a few key ones. Over 350 people gathered in the Great Hall for the tribute to Harry Messel in May. This event was extremely successful with a number of donations including two $100k donations to support of the International Science School (ISS). ABC Radio National’s It gives me great pleasure to introduce the School of Physics Robyn Williams acted as Master of Ceremonies with speakers Annual Report for 2010. including Lord Robert May of Oxford, alumnus of the School. I commenced as Head of the School of Physics on 1 January, In August, Prof. William Philips, 1997 Nobel Laureate for 2010. I record my admiration and gratitude to Professor Anne Physics and quantum physicist gave a lecture organised very Green who led the School as Head with great success and successfully by the School of Physics as part of Sydney Ideas distinction for the past three years. Her excellent stewardship in the Seymour Centre. enabled the School’s many achievements during her time as Head and her contribution will certainly be remembered. Visual artist, Fiona Davies, set up an art installation in the foyer of the School in September and formally opened by 2010 was certainly a productive year for research. In April ABC TV’s Catalyst presenter, Dr Paul Willis. The installation, we were told that we had been successful in securing $40M Memorial/Double Pump/Laplace II, was one of three in a in funding through the Federal Government’s Education series, loosely based on narratives of the dying and death in Investment Fund (EIF) towards a $110M new building for 2001 of Fiona’s father, Louis Walter Davis who graduated from the School of Physics which replace the existing School the School with honours in 1948. of Physics Annexe, A29 with the Australian Institute of Nanoscience (AIN). The AIN will provide national and In September, Prof. Bryan Gaensler won the Physics, Earth international leadership in foundational, cross-disciplinary and Sciences, Chemistry and Astronomy Category of the 2010 translational research across three areas united by a common NSW Scientist of the Year Awards and in November, Daniel disciplinary core of nano-scale science and with shared Huber won "rst prize at the 2010 Australian Institute of requirements for world-leading, specialised nanofabrication Physics NSW Postgraduate Awards in November for his research infrastructure. research presentation on asteroseismology and interferometry. The School was successful in 2010 applications for funding I would particularly like to acknowledge the service of Jim from 2011 for "ve ARC Centre’s of Excellence. Two centres McCaughan who stepped down from teaching in the School will be headquartered in the School: the Centre for All-sky after “35 years of running things, 38 years of demonstrating, Astrophysics (CAASTRO) with income over the lifetime of 46 years of lecturing and 49 years of tutoring”. Physics has the centre of $20.6M and the Centre for Ultrahigh Bandwidth been taught in the University for more or less 158 years. Jim Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS) with income over has taught in the School for almost 1/3 of that time. In his time, lifetime of the centre of $23.8M. Three nodes of centres Jim taught, tutored and demonstrated to over 25,000 students, will be based in the School: the Engineered Quantum including 3,300 in the last 11 years since formal retirement from Systems Centre (EQuS) with headquarters at the University the School! The School owes Jim a debt of gratitude for his of Queensland with income over lifetime of the centre of long service to and constant enthusiasm for the School. $24.5M, the Particle Physics at the Tera-Scale Centre with headquarters at Melbourne University with income Professor Clive Baldock over lifetime of the centre of $25.2M, and the Quantum Head of School Computation and Communication Technology Centre with headquarters at UNSW and income over the lifetime of the Centre of $24,500,000. SCHOOL OF PHYSICS STAFF Professor in Medical Physics, Head of Associate Professors Mike Ireland, BSc PhD Sydney School and Director, Science Foundation Stephen Bartlett, BSc Waterloo MSc PhD Tor Sunnie Lim, BAppSci PhD RMIT for Physics Zdenka Kuncic, BSc PhD Cantab Ravi Pant, BS MS Delhi MTech Inst Tech Clive Baldock, BSc Sus MSc PhD Lond Serdar Kuyucak, BSc METU PhD Yale Delhi PhD Arizona David J Moss, BSc Waterloo MSc PhD Tor Sergio Leon-Saval, BSc Seville MPhys Hull Professor in Physics (Applied) John W O’Byrne, BSc PhD Sydney PhD Bath Marcela M Bilek, BSc PhD Cantab MBA Roch Manjula D Sharma, MSc SPac, PhD MEd Christelle Monat, PhD Leom PhD CNRS Professor in Space Physics Sydney Dane McCamey, BSc PhD UNSW Iver H Cairns, BSc PhD Sydney Kevin E Varvell, BSc UWA DPhil Oxf Dennis Stello, BSc MSc Aarhus PhD Sydney Michael S Wheatland, BSc PhD Sydney Professor in Theoretical Physics ARC Super Science Fellow Martijn deSterke, MEng Delft PhD Roch Adjunct Associate Professors James Allison, MPhys DPhil Oxf Roger Fulton, PhD UTS Professor in Optics Professor Harry Messel Fellow Andrew Hopkins, BSc PhD Sydney Simon Fleming, BSc PhD Leeds Roman Kompaneets, BSc MSc Moscow PhD Lyn Oliver, MSc Lond PhD UNSW Munich Professor in Sustainability Research Natalka Suchowerska, BSc Birm MSc UTS Manfred Lenzen, PhD Dip Bonn PhD Sydney Lecturers Robert Wilkins, BE MEngSc PhD Sydney Pulin Gong, BS PhD Xian Jiaotong Professor in Astrophysics and University Tara Murphy, PhD Edin BSc Sydney Chair ARC Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellows Donald B Melrose FAA, BSc UTAS DPhil Oxf Scott Croom, BSc PhD Durham Teaching Management Stuart Jackson, BSc Newcastle PhD Richard Tarrant, BA MSc PhD Sydney Professor in Physics (Condensed Matter) Macquarie Richard Thompson, BSc PhD Sydney Catherine Stamp#, BSc PhD La Trobe Alexander A Samarian, MSc Kiev PhD Postgraduate Teaching Fellows Professor in Medical Physics RAS(Mos) Tina Gorjiara David Thwaites, BA MA Oxon MSc Aberdeen Peter G Tuthill, BSc UQ BSc ANU PhD Patrick Neumann PhD Dundee Cantab Alessandro Tuniz Professors in Astrophysics ARC Australian Research Fellow Joel Wallman Timothy R Bedding, BSc PhD Sydney Bruce Yabsley, BTh Moore BSc PhD Sydney Tim White Anne Green, BSc Melbourne PhD Sydney ARC Future Fellows Senior Research Fellows Richard W Hunstead, BSc PhD Sydney Andrew Doherty, BSc Cantab PhD Auckland Christopher Dey, BSc PhD Sydney Geraint Lewis, BSc Lond PhD Cantab Boris Kuhlmey, BSc Lyon MSc Paris PhD Helen M Johnston, PhD CalifIT BSc ARC Federation Fellows Marseille Jong Won Kim, BS MS Seoul PhD Maryland Joss Bland-Hawthorn, BSc AU Birm PhD Sus Alexey Kondyurin, TechSc PhD Perm Senior Lecturers & RGO Maryanne Large, BSc PhD Dub Michael Biercuk, BA Penn PhD Harvard Benjamin J Eggleton, BSc PhD Sydney Bo L Li, MSc Nankai PhD JCUNQ Reza Hashemi-Nezhad, MSc PhD Birm Bryan Gaensler, BSc PhD Sydney Qinghuan Luo, BSc NIHM MSc Heilonjiang Joseph Khachan, BSc PhD UNSW Peter A Robinson, BSc PhD Sydney PhD Sydney David Reilly, BAppSc UTS PhD UNSW Eric Magi, BSc ANU PhD UNSW ARC Australian Professorial Fellows J Gordon Robertson, BSc Adelaide PhD Joy Murray, PhD Wollongong David R McKenzie, BSc PhD UNSW Sydney Nelson Ng, BSc PhD Sydney Ross C McPhedran, BSc PhD UTAS Adjunct Senior Lecturers Oliver Warschkow, BSc PhD Tor Elaine M Sadler FAA, BSc UQ PhD ANU Lois Holloway, BSc PhD UNSW Sergey Vladimirov, MSc PhD Mosc Research Fellows Shami Chatterjee, BTech(EE) Madras MSc Adjunct Professors PhD Cornell Cenk Kocer, BSc Monash PhD Sydney Russell Cannon, BSc MA PhD Camb Visili Lobzin, DipPhysics Moscow InstPhys ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellows Matthew Colless, BSc PhD Camb PhD Troitsk Alexander Argyros, BSc PhD Sydney Thomas Landecker, BSc BE MEngSc PhD Feng Luan Peter Domachuk, BSc PhD Sydney Sydney Seong-Sik Min Christian Grillet, BSc Claude Bernard Lyon Naomi McClure-Gri$ths, BA Oberlin PhD Minn Mark Pelusi, BE PhD Melbourne DEA Montpellier II PhD Ecole Lyon Robert Robinson, BA PhD Cantab Snjezana Tomljenovic-Hanic 4 STAFF Postdoctoral Fellows Research Associates Human Resources O"cer Peter Abolfathi Alexandria deCastro Sang Huynh Mushtaq Ahmad