Abstract Submission
American Physical Society, California Section
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA November 13 - 14, 2009
Abstracts Submission is Closed
 Douglas Osheroff, (Stanford University) Nobel surPrize Lecture. Bio & Nobel Prize "How Advances In Science Are Made" How advances in science are made, and how they may come to benefit mankind at large are complex issues. The discoveries that most influence the way we think about nature seldom can be anticipated, and frequently the applications for new technologies developed to probe a specific characteristic of nature are also seldom clear, even to the inventors of these technologies.. One thing is most clear: Seldom are such advances made by individuals alone. Rather, they result from the progress of the scientific community; asking questions, developing new technologies to answer those questions, and sharing their results and their ideas with others. However, there are indeed research strategies that can substantially increase the probability of one's making a discovery, and the speaker will illustrate some of these strategies in the context of a number of well known discoveries, including the work he did as a graduate student, for which he shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1996. |  Darin Kinion (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) "Quantum Information and Computing"- Link Major efforts are underway to utilize the unique properties of quantum mechanical systems to build a new class of computers. I will first describe the fundamental ideas behind quantum computation such as entanglement, superposition, and decoherence and outline the types of problems that are impossible for classical computers but solvable for quantum computers. Next, I will present an overview of the technical challenges that must be faced in the construction of a quantum computer. The first step, which has been demonstrated, is the construction and manipulation of a single quantum bit, or qubit. I will describe physical implementations of qubits based on superconducting circuits containing Josephson Junctions, highlighting the achievements of several groups with single as well as coupled qubits. Finally, I will describe efforts to meet the next set of challenges in moving from one- and two-qubit circuits to a scalable architecture. |
 Bruce Macintosh (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) "Searches For Exosolar Planets"- Link More than 300 extrasolar planets are now known. Almost all have been detected indirectly - through radial velocity measurements or eclipses of their parent star. These discoveries have radically changed our understanding of the formation of solar systems, and I will present an overview of the field and the capabilities of various methods. Direct detection - spatially resolving the planet from the star - opens up new areas of exoplanet phase space and new avenues for planet characterization. It is also extremely challenging, since a mature Jupiter-like planet is 10^9 times fainter than its host star. I will discuss the optical science challenges in detecting such faint signals and approaches to overcoming them. The challenge is set by diffraction and scattered light, which may be understood in a Fourier optics context. The promise of this approach was recently demonstrated with HST images of a planet orbiting Fomalhaut (Kalas et al 2008) and adaptive optics images of a three-planet system orbiting the young A star HR8799 (Marois et al 2008). I will discuss the HR8799 system in detail. Finally, I will summarize future prospects in this field, including advanced ground-based instrumentation and the path towards detection and characterization of Earthlike planets. Bio: Bruce Macintosh is a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in astronomy from UCLA in 1994 and has worked in astronomical adaptive optics since then, specializing in high-contrast imaging for detection of faint objects such as extrasolar planets. He is an Associate Director of the NSF Center for Adaptive Optics, and Principal Investigator for the Gemini Planet Imager (http://gpi.berkeley.edu ), a next-generation adaptive optics system for the Gemini Observatory |  John Lewellen (Naval Postgraduate School) "Revolutionary Advances In Light Sources"- Link Recent developments – such as the spectacular success of the x-ray laser at SLAC – highlight the power and flexibility of the next generation of accelerator-based light sources. The typical advanced light source based on a linear accelerator has high peak and average optical power output, continuous wavelength tenability over several decades, narrow bandwidth and, potentially, full transverse and temporal coherence. More amazingly, the fundamental physical mechanism for achieving these results is the same regardless of whether the light source is operating at in the sub-mm or sub-nm wavelength ranges. This talk begins with an overview of linac-based light source, including core concepts of free-electron lasers and energy recovery linacs. Then, short-wavelengh light sources – such as the LCLS at SLAC – are discussed, along with a review of some of the research to be performed using this new and exciting tool. Finally, high-average-power FELs, with an emphasis on recent developments in the near-IR range, are presented. The talk concludes with thoughts on future applications and trends in advanced accelerator-drive light sources. Bio: John Lewellen received his Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Case Western Reserve University in 1991 and his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University in 1996. After graduating from Stanford, Dr. Lewellen went to the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, where he worked on the APS SASE-FEL project. Dr. Lewellen was one of the founding members of the Argonne-Department of Defense Project Office, where he has served as the Beam Physics lead. In 2007, Dr. Lewellen accepted a Research Associate Professorwww position at the Naval Postgraduate School, in Monterey, CA. His work there entails the development and construction of a free-electron laser and high-brightness beam research facility. |
 C.W. Francis Everitt (Stanford University) "Gyroscopes, NASA & Einstein – a Long Series of Surprises" "Gravity Probe B"- Link Space opens opportunities for many fundamental physics experiments impossible on Earth. It also takes the physicist into worlds different from any he ever expected. The test of General Relativity known as Gravity Probe B (GP-B), launched in 2004, engaged a fascinating intersection of physics and engineering challenges and a succession of (often pleasant) surprises, including four years of steadily progressing data analysis so full of twists and turns that we venture to call it the Gravity Probe B Detective Story. Unexpected technologies, a succession of extraordinarily diverse doctoral dissertations, two university departments actually collaborating, and spin-offs to fields as far off as autofarming are just some of the surprises that come from a journey of testing Einstein. As a great physicist Patrick Blackett said to me before I came to GP-B, “If you can’t think what experiment to do next, invent some new technology. It’ll always lead to new physics.” Bio: Francis Everitt has been a native Californian longer than the Governor of California. He obtained his PhD from Imperial College, London in paleomagnetism with among other things proof that in Carboniferous times, Britain was 10° south of the equator. Two years at the University of Pennsylvania then led to the discovery, with K. R. Atkins and A. Denenstein, of 3rd sound in superfluid He. At Stanford since October 1962, he has been engaged in space research, in particular the Gravity Probe B and STEP missions. He has also written extensively on the history of 19th and 20th (but not yet 21st) century physics including a biography of Maxwell and most recently an article “Kelvin, Maxwell, Einstein, and the Ether: Who was Right about What?” |  "Careers in Alternative Energy: A Panel Discussion with Experts" - Link Members of the Panel:
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