Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory: Fill & Download for Free

Here is a “map” of the domains of physics that I made some years ago. Physical theories and phenomena are “plotted” according to their physical scale (x-axis) and speed (y-axis). Both scales are logarithmic. It’s not a very accurate graph, but it gives us a decent “bird’s eye view” of modern physics.Physics, graphed in terms of physical scale and speed.Very tiny things (particles) are on the left of the diagram, and very big things (galactic superclusters) are on the right of the diagram. Very slow things are near the bottom, and the speed of light provides the hard limit on the top. As far as we know, life resides in a particular zone of this map: the lower part of the middle zone. South-eastern Middle-earth. :)Here’s where the fun stuff is!The jagged gaps (cracks of doom?) in the map represent the holes that many physicists hope to fill with some Grand Unified Theory or the other.Life resides on the “western shore” of the continent where classical mechanics is usually more than adequate. Well, adequate for describing non-living phenomena. The world where biophysical phenomena reside is just “east” of the chaotic and baffling quantum ocean: the width of a DNA molecule is just about small enough for quantum effects to be possible and potentially measurable. There’s no evidence that quantum effects are relevant to anything at larger scales, including neural phenomena. (Which means that quantum theories of the brain are pretty pointless. If we’re being charitable we can say that quantum brain theories are still waiting around for some quantum brain phenomena to explain.)The branch of physics that seems to relate to our neighborhood is condensed matter physics. Condensed matter physics can be broadly divided into two fields: hard and soft. Hard matter includes semiconductors, crystals, ceramics and metals. Soft matter includes “liquids, colloids, polymers, foams, gels, granular materials, liquid crystals, and a number of biological materials.” So condensed matter consists of all kinds of macroscopic configurations of matter than we might conceivably encounter or construct in a laboratory or factory (minus gases, plasmas and “naked” particles). It is a fascinating field, but in the popular imagination it doesn’t have the “sex appeal” of particle physics or astrophysics. Nevertheless it is arguably the field that has had the most impact on our lives in the past three decades or so. Condensed matter physics is where much of semiconductor physics was born. So it had a major role to play in the computer revolution. Nanotechnology and lasers also emerged from condensed matter physics.Neural tissue might be described as the most complex form of condensed matter in the known universe. So the biophysics of the brain may be one place where dialogue between physicists and neuroscientists may be productive. And condensed matter physics may be the appropriate “language” for much of this dialogue. Condensed matter physics (with help from biomedical engineering and biochemistry) is also the branch of physics that is most likely to create new materials and new tools with which to study the brain. It may also lead to devices that can implement artificial neural network techniques such as the celebrated deep learning. This field is known as neuromorphic engineering.Note that I haven’t mentioned consciousness* yet. No one really knows what consciousness is, so we can’t really locate it on our map of physics. In one obvious sense, consciousness has to reside in our little neighborhood. But in another sense, consciousness is a kind of frame for the entire map of physics. After all, it was human consciousness (as a social phenomenon) that created the map of physics.Perhaps that last bit was a little too mystical. Let’s return to more practical matters. I think in addition to contributing theoretical ideas and technology to neuroscience (which itself may or may not have anything useful to say about consciousness ever), the wider world of physics can provide us with metaphors and conceptual frameworks for philosophizing about consciousness. I am not convinced that any of this armchair speculation has anything to do with testable science, but it’s fun, so why not indulge in it?Condensed matter physics has given the world some very interesting ways to understand emergence: the process by which new properties or phenomena arise in a system when certain conditions are met. One of my favorite examples is the concept of quasiparticles:“In physics, quasiparticles and collective excitations (which are closely related) are emergent phenomena that occur when a microscopically complicated system such as a solid behaves as if it contained different weakly interacting particles in free space. For example, as an electron travels through a semiconductor, its motion is disturbed in a complex way by its interactions with all of the other electrons and nuclei; however it approximately behaves like an electron with a different mass (effective mass) traveling unperturbed through free space.” - WikipediaConsciousness — and other less baffling psychological phenomena — may turn out to be emergent. Perhaps one day a neuro-physicist will show that perceptions and thoughts are “quasiparticles” emerging from the collective action of neuronal networks: they might travel in the brain “as if” they are in some kind of conceptual “free space” — colliding with each other like particles in an accelerator, producing new perceptions and thoughts. This is wildly speculative, but fun to think about**.Someone else who had a lot of fun with speculation is the physicist Erwin Schrödinger. He wrote a brilliant book called Mind and Matter, in which he linked his understanding of physics and biology with consciousness. I also recommend reading his book What is Life? — it inspired Watson and Crick to seek out the structure of the DNA molecule. Speculation may not be science, but it can occasionally inspire real scientific breakthroughs.Notes* A question I merged with this one involved consciousness.** Even though I’m a neuroscientist with a physics background, I don’t really have the expertise to turn my speculation into an actual mathematical or computational framework. If anyone out there with better math/physics skills than me wants to run with these ideas, go for it! Let me know if you come up with something.Further readingThese Quora answers go into more detail regarding consciousness and it’s scientific unapproachability.Can a “soul” ever acquire a satisfactory definition from neuroscience, information theory, or computer science? (“Soul” and “consciousness” are very similar in a sense.)Is there any conclusive proof that the brain produces consciousness? What rules out the case that brain acts as receptor antennae for consciousness?How does the brain create consciousness?What percent chance is there that whole brain emulation or mind uploading to a neural prosthetic will be feasible by 2048?What are some of the current neuroscientific theories of consciousness?What do neuroscientists think of the philosopher David Chalmers?Is anything real beyond our own perspective?What is the currently best scientific answer to the psycho-physical (body-mind) question?Here’s more on the concept of emergence:Complexity: Can emergent phenomena be described mathematically?And an answer about condensed matter physics:Why are there so few (if any) popular science books on condensed matter physics compared to popular science books on quantum mechanics and relativity?Also, here is the essay for which I made the physics “map”:Vision: the Master Metaphor

The usual suspects are:University of California at BerkeleyRutgersUniversity of Texas at AustinMITIn addition, a great deal of serious long-term computational condensed matter physics work and open source code development is done in the national labs (e.g. Lawrence Berkeley, Sandia, Argonne, Naval Research, National Renewable Energy and Oak Ridge). Hence, going to a university with close ties to one of these national labs would be advantageous for doing computational work. Berkeley has a significant advantage over other schools, owing to its proximity to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the number of faculty working in this area.Thank you for the A2A.

There are many such institutes and research centre in India, which will pay you for your research work. You can get pay either by working there as scientific officer or by joining them as a PhD students or as a JRF. In physics if you want to join these institutes you should either qualify JEST or GATE after completing your M.Sc. in physics.a comprehensive list of these institutes is as follows:Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, Nainital: Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Atmospheric Physics.Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai (BARC).Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad: Theoretical Physics, Astrophysics.International centre for theoretical sciences (TIFR), Bangalore:Astrophysical Relativity, Data Assimilation and Dynamical Systems, Statistical Physics and Turbulence, and String theory and Quantum Gravity.Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam: Solid State Phase transformations, Superconductivity, Structure and dynamics of soft condensed matter, Band structure studies, Accelerators based Irradiation induced phenomena, Low-dimensional systems, Physics of interfaces, Nano-materials, Thin films technology and Theoretical physics.Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astronomical Instrumentation, Optics, and Atomic Physics.Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore: Condensed Matter Physics (Experiments and Theory), Astronomy and Astrophysics (Theoretical), Atomic and Optical Physics (Experimental), Biocrystallography and Bio-informatics, and High Energy Physics (Theoretical).Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal: Condensed Matter Physics (Theory and Experiment), Soft Matter Physics (Theory), Biophysics, Laser Plasma Interactions, Ultrafast Physics (Experiment), Astrophysics and Cosmology, High Energy Physics (Theory, Phenomenology and Experiment), Non-linear Optics.Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata: Condensed Matter Physics, Field Theory, Classical & Quantum Gravity, Cosmology, Solar Science, High Energy Physics, Non-linear dynamics, Statistical Physics, Soft Matter, Optics & Spectroscopy, Atomic physics, Biophotonics, Spintronics, Nanoscience, NMR, Quantum Information.Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali: Quantum Theory, Quantum Information Processing, NMR-Methodology, Optics, Statistical Mechanics, Quantum Thermodynamics, Non-linear Dynamics, String Theory, Ultrafast Physics, and Low Temperature Mesoscopic Physics.Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune: Field Theory, Theoretical Particle Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, Non-linear Dynamics, Complex Systems and Networks, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Quantum Information Processing, Radio Astrophysics, Atomic Physics and Quantum Optics, Energy Studies, Solar and Plasma Physics, Nanosciences, Scanning Probe Techniques, and Semiconductor Physics and Devices.Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram: Experimental Condensed Matter: Magnetic and Superconducting materials, Nanoscience and Energy materials, Photonics, Soft Condensed Matter, Semiconductor Physics and Devices, Surface Sciences and Nano-scale Plasmonics, Terahertz and Ultrafast Spectroscopy; Theory: Cosmology, Classical and Quantum Gravity, Gravitational Wave Physics, Quantum Information Theory, Quantum Field Theory, and Statistical Physics.The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai: Theoretical Physics, Theoretical Computer Science, and Computational Biology.Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar: Physics (Condensed Matter, Nuclear and High Energy Physics) and Accelerator-based Research.Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar: Physics (Experimental and Theoretical).Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune: Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics.Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore: Experimental and Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, Statistical Mechanics, and Materials Science.National Brain Research Centre, Manesar:Molecular, Computaional and Systems Neuroscience. Sensory & motor systems, learning & memory, language & speech processing, functional neuroimaging: EEG, MEG, fMRI, MRS, stem cells, developmental neurobiology, neurogenetics, neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, cancer signaling & glial tumor biology.National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, TIFR, Pune: Astronomy and Astrophysics.National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar: Theoretical High Energy Physics and Lattice QCD, Experimental High Energy Physics, Condensed Matter Physics (Theory and Experiment), Optics and Metamaterials.Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad: Theoretical Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Solar Physics, Space and Atmospheric Sciences, Planetary Science and Geo-Sciences.Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore: Lasers and their Applications, Laser Plasma Interaction, Cold Atom Physics, Condensed Matter Physics (Superconductivity and Magnetism, Crystals and Thin Films), Nanomaterials and Applications, Non-linear and Ultrafast Optical Studies, Beam Physics, and Free Electron Laser.Raman Research Institute, Bangalore: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Light and Matter Physics, Soft Condensed Matter Physics (Liquid Crystals, Physics in Biology), and Theoretical Physics.Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata: Condensed Matter Physics (Theory and Experiments), Nuclear Physics (Theory and Experiments), High Energy Physics (Theory and Experiments), Astroparticle Physics, Quantum Gravity, String Theory, Mathematical Physics, and Materials Science (Surface Science and Plasma Physics).Satyendra Nath Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata: Astrophysics and Cosmology, Chemical and Biological Physics, Condensed Matter Physics and Material Science, High Energy Physics and Quantum Field Theory, Mathematical Physics, Nanosciences, Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Statistical Physics, and Complex Systems.TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Hyderabad: Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science of Nonequilibrium, Soft & Living matter, Fluid Dynamics, Intense Laser-matter interactions, Computational Physics, Statistical physics, NMR of Biophysical & other systems.Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Condensed Matter Physics and Material Science, High Energy Physics, Nuclear and Atomic Physics, Theoretical Physics.UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, Indore: Surfaces, Interfaces, Thin Films and Nanomaterials, Physics at Low Temperatures and High Magnetic Fields, X-ray, Optical and Electron Spectroscopic Studies Using Synchrotron and Laboratory Sources; Electrical, Magnetic and Thermal Properties of Condensed Matter; Condensed Matter studies using Magnetic Neutron Diffraction, Nuclear Technique Based Condensed Matter Physics-Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy, Mossbauer Spectroscopy, Experimental Nuclear Physics, Gamma Ray Spectroscopy of Nuclear High Spin States, and Nuclear Reactions.Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata: Accelerator Physics, Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science, Nuclear Physics (Experiments and Theory), Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions (Experiments, Theory, QCD and QGP), and Physics of Neutrinos (Experiments).