Our long term goal is to answer the following question from a scientific perspective:
Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
-Sean M. Carroll
Our group applies a variety of atomic, molecular, & optical physics techniques (imagine laser beams being aimed through very cold transparent solid materials) to answer fundamental questions in nuclear, particle, and cosmological physics.
Our passion is creating, manipulating, and detecting spin-polarized atomic nuclei (imagine a balloon filled with tiny little compass needles all pointing the same way or equivalently a laser-magnetized gas).
Some more gentle introductions to our research are below (more technical details are here):
Why Is There Something Rather than Nothing? (public presentation to a non-technical audience in Spring 2025)
Using Lasers to Count Atoms to Explain the Stellar Origin of Copper and Silver (presentation to the MSU Society of Physics Students aimed at 1st and 2nd year college students in Fall 2024)
More technically, we aim to:
- search for time-reversal symmetry violation using rare heavy pear-shaped atomic nuclei with unprecedented sensitivity which may explain the origin of visible matter in the Universe (Radium EDM, EDM3, Protactinium-229, Precision Noble Gas Magnetometry)
- study the evolution of the chemical elements by measuring low yield nuclear reactions using optical single atom detection and imaging (Single Atom Microscope)
We are a part of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Michigan State University.
Best Practices + Soft Skills + Research Skills + Generative AI in Research