Research Facilities

The department of physics is located in the Olin Physical Laboratory, a new building near the center of the campus. The building has excellent space for teaching, research, and study.

Well-equipped laboratories are available for experimental research, among them:

The laboratory for laser interaction with materials and surfaces includes a subpicosecond amplified dye laser and streak camera for time- resolved studies, an excimer laser, scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopes, an ultrahigh vacuum surface analysis system, and laser ablation chambers. Surface science experiments are also conducted offcampus at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

The Center for Nanotechnology (NANOTECH) is the newest addition to the Department of Physics. Located adjacent to the Reynolda Campus of Wake Forest University, NANOTECH offers over 6000 sq. ft. of dedicated lab space. These facilities are divided up into five labs: an organic device lab for prototyping, an optical characterization lab, a microscopy lab with both STM/AFM scanning probes and electron microscopy, a transport lab capable of 4.2 K, and a growth lab. The facilities are open for use by the Wake Forest community, collaborators, and industrial partners.

Several of the department's faculty are also part of the Center for Structural Biology. Its facilities include X-Ray Diffraction Laboratory, the Biomolecular Computing and Graphics Facility, the   Biomolecular Resource Facility, Protein NMR and Mass Spectrometry, and more.

The EPR laboratory has a computer-controlled spectrometer, low- temperature facilities for studies to 4K, and X-ray and laser equipment for sample irradiation.

The atomic and optical physics laboratory includes two high-powered pulsed Nd:YAG lasers, an Ar+ laser, two pulsed dye lasers, several single-mode tunable diode lasers, a research class microscope for optical tweezers and significant vacuum equipment. In addition, a Perkin-Elmer spectrophotometer is available. This laboratory has capabilities for studying light-forces on atoms, clusters, nanostructures, and biological specimens.

Measurements on dynamics of DNA in gels during pulsed-field electrophoresis are carried out in a computer-controlled system which allows laser-excited fluorescence monitoring of DNA velocity and alignment during acceleration of the DNA by an electric field. DNA motions can be observed in 2-D using a 300 mw laser and image detection. The dynamics of single DNA molecules during electrophoresis are also being studied by video microscopy.

Measurements of relaxation of defects in ionic solids are conducted with thermally stimulated depolarization measurements.

A laboratory for microwave absorption in biosystems is located at the medical school.

Magnetic resonance imaging facilities are located at the medical school.

For high temperature superconductor studies, there is a materials preparation laboratory, facilities for thin-film deposition, and a characterization laboratory including stations for measurement of bulk and contact resistivity, AC and DC susceptibility, and van der Pauw measurements.

Several computer facilities are available for computational physics and theoretical research:

• DEAC, our massively parallel Linux cluster.
• Access to the campus network and to the Internet are provided by a complete campus 802.11a/g wireless network. Wired network jacks supplement the wireless system with connections in experimental laboratories, faculty and student offices and work areas, and at every classroom seat. All ports use switched technology for maximum throughput.
• The academic campus computer is available to all students and faculty for fast parallel processor computations. Graphics and symbolic algebra software is also available on this machine.
• All undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty are issued IBM Thinkpad laptops with an extensive software load.

The adjacent Z. Smith Reynolds Library houses a substantial collection of research journals and monographs. 

100 Olin Physical Laboratory, 7507 Reynolda Station Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC 27109-7507 Phone: (336) 758-5337, FAX: (336) 758-6142 E-mail: wfuphys@wfu.edu	Quick Links Academics Research People Colloquia Info Physics