Recent News

Headshot of Erin Marlowe

2025 Mayer Scholarship Recipient

August 29th, 2025

The Department of Physics is pleased to announce that Erin Marlowe is the recipient of the 2025 Professor Walter G. Mayer Endowed Scholarship, which supports a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in experimental physics.…

X-ray nanotomography of a curved magnetic thin film with perpendicular anisotropy reveals curvature-induced modifications in the magnetic configuration.

Curvature Induced Magnetism

August 14th, 2025

A Georgetown University team, led by postdoctoral fellow Dhritiman Bhattacharya and graduate students Colin Langton and Bradley Fugetta, has demonstrated how bending thin magnetic films can change the way the tiny magnetic regions inside them are arranged. Their work provides direct experimental evidence that curvature can induce a “handedness,” or chirality, in magnetic patterns—a finding that could be a game-changer for spintronics, a field that uses electron spin to store and process information.…

Leon and Janet standing together at their retirement party

Janet Norton and Leon Der Retirement

July 7th, 2025

The Georgetown Physics Department recently bid a bittersweet farewell to our long-time colleagues Janet Norton and Leon Der, both of whom retired at the end of June. …

Prof. Paola Barbara with Robert and Gwynne Edmund

Visit from Robert and Gwynne Edmund

June 5th, 2025

The Physics department was honored to recently have a visit from Robert (B’70) and Gwynne Edmund. Robert is the former CEO of Edmund Optics, one of the world’s leading suppliers of optical components and expertise. …

ACS Journal Cover Reconfigurable all-nitride magneto-ionics

Nitrogen on the Move: Controlling Magnetism through Ionic Migration

June 3rd, 2025

A team of researchers led by postdoctoral researcher Dr. Zhijie (Hugh) Chen in Prof. Kai Liu’s group have demonstrated a novel all-nitride magneto-ionic system with tunable magnetic properties through nitrogen ionic motion. Their recent study, published in ACS Nano and featured on the journal cover.…