Frank Hegmann, PhD

About

My expertise is in ultrafast phenomena of materials, terahertz (THz) science and technology, ultrafast scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), optics and photonics, and nanophysics. I have two labs in Physics, the Ultrafast Spectroscopy Lab and the Ultrafast Nanotools Lab, where we use advanced femtosecond laser sources to perform time-resolved THz spectroscopy and THz-STM for exploring fundamental ultrafast processes in materials down to the atomic scale.

Awards

2014-15 University of Alberta McCalla Professorship 

2014 Alberta Innovates Technology Futures/iCORE Strategic Chair in Terahertz Science and Technology

Research

Experimental condensed matter physics, ultrafast terahertz spectroscopy, terahertz scanning tunneling microscopy, transient photoconductivity, biological effects of intense THz pulses, THz source development, nanomaterials, nanotechnology, photonics, optics

Teaching

Recipient of the 2013 Faculty of Science Award for Excellent Teaching

Learn how ultrafast lasers help scientists observe ultrafast events

PHYS 271 - Introduction to Modern Physics

This course covers the emergence of modern physics through revisions to the Newtonian worldview and the development of quantum mechanics. The course starts with the discovery of the wave nature of light through diffraction and interferometry leading to the observation of lines in atomic spectra. The course then discusses the early experiments that lead to the discovery of the structure of matter and early quantum phenomena including: Rutherford scattering, quantization of charge and energy, Blackbody radiation, Compton scattering, Bohr atom and de Broglie wavelength. This is followed by an introduction to the Schrödinger equation and solutions to 1D problems including: infinite and finite square potential wells, the quantum harmonic oscillator and quantum tunneling, before discussing quantized angular momentum. The course then concludes with a tour of the exciting applications of modern physics in different fields with some possible examples including: semiconductors, superconductors, nuclear decays and reactions, the Standard Model, the Higgs boson, quantum information, supernovae and Black Holes, Dark Matter, the Big Bang and Gravitational Waves. Prerequisite: one of PHYS 124, PHYS 144, or EN PH 131. Corequisites: MA PH 251 or MATH 201 or MATH 334 or MATH 336 and one of MA PH 351 or MATH 209 or 315 or 317, and MATH 102 or 125 or 127.

PHYS 297 - Experimental Physics II

Contemporary methods of experimental physics with measurements from classical and modern physics. This is a continuation of Experimental Physics I with application of more advanced techniques and more in-depth exploration of the selected physics topics. Prerequisite: PHYS 295. Corequisites: PHYS 271, and MATH 101 or 115 or 118 or 146.

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