Professional and Biographical Information

Degrees

Ph.D., City University of New York (1996)
B.A., Vassar College (1987)

Teaching Interests

I teach all sorts of courses in physics, from introductory mechanics to advanced electives, and enjoy them all. I have developed a new course in Quantum Information that I have taught twice. As a former journalist, I am particularly interested in teaching my students how to write. I've taught our Intermediate Laboratory course in which students work on their writing in weekly lab reports.

Research Interests

Where does the quantum world end and the classical one begin? Typical macroscopic objects obey the laws of classical mechanics. But, since everything is built out of elementary particles which are decidedly quantum, it is hard to understand why quantum signatures do not persist to large scales. These signatures include tunneling (in which a particle can pass through an energetically “forbidden” region) and superposition states (in which a quantum system can in some sense be in two mutually exclusive states at the same time.) My research interests focus on exploring systems at or near the quantum/classical frontier. In particular, I study the quantum properties of “macroscopic” quantum systems like molecules that have a large magnetic moment and superconducting rings in which the electric current can be in a superposition of clockwise and counterclockwise flow.

Single molecule magnets, which are a few nanometers in size, are some of the smallest bistable magnets. How a magnetic particle reverses its orientation is a question of both fundamental interest and practical importance (e.g. for data storage in hard drives). These magnets can reverse their magnetic moment through a process that involves tunneling through an energy barrier that separates the up and down orientations of the magnet. We are doing several experiments to understand and control the reversal process. For example, we use microwaves to induce macroscopic changes in the magnetization.

I'm also starting up a research project to study the macroscopic quantum behavior of SQUIDs (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices). These devices are superconducting rings in which the electrons “condense” to act as one collective object. This condensate can be put into a macroscopic superposition state in which billions of electrons “flow both ways at once”, an effect demonstrated by an experiment I did several years ago. In a new set of experiments, we will design and build some novel SQUID devices to explore new quantum effects and to try to understand how these systems lose their “quantumness” to eventually behave like most macroscopic objects, that is, classiscally.

Awards and Honors

Agilent Technologies Europhysics Prize, 2002

Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, 2002

Scholarly and Professional Activities

Founding member of the Anacapa Society, an organization in support of theoretical and computational physicists at primarily undergraduate institutions.

Session chair for 50th annual conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, San Jose, CA, Oct. 31-Nov. 3, 2005

Program Committee for the workshop "Macroscopic Quantum Coherence and Computing," Naples, Italy, June 2000

Organizer of informal Five-College Quantum Information discussion group, summers, 2003, 2004

Links

News articles about my research

PDF files of my publications can be found at my Web site

Tags:  Jonathan Friedman