Facilities
Our members carry out research at the forefront of physics with state-of-the-art facilities. We have the world's first two-colour chirped-pulse amplification laser which will be used to selectively control the breaking of molecular bonds, and our CO2 lasers are at the cutting edge of industrial welding technology. We have one of the most extensive facilities in the world for the characterization of the physical properties of polymer thin films and interfaces.
We have the world's first truly confocal transmission microscope, an instrument that can scan areas as small as 25 x 25 microns or as large as 7.5 x 7.5 cm, used in biomedical imaging and semiconductor materials research. Our X-Ray Surface Forces Apparatus (XSFA) is used to study the effects of lubrication on wear and the structure of flowing complex fluids and membrane systems. We have Canada's only Scanning Proton Microprobe, which serves a large group of academic and industrial scientists. Our optical, electron and atomic force microscopes allow us to probe materials as diverse as thin polymers, semiconductors, and high-Tc superconductors. We have extensive electro-acoustic measurement and digital signal processing capabilities in our audio research labs. Our five NMR spectrometers allow us to perform both liquid-and solid state-NMR, as well as NMR imaging of complex soft materials. Raman and infrared spectrometers are mainly used to study phase transitions in molecular crystals. A newly established state-of-the-art materials analysis laboratory (to be operational by the year 2000) provides the most advanced instruments in Canada for high-resolution chemical-state XPS imaging and near-atomic resolution Scanning Electron Microscope analysis. Together with the existing multi-technique surface analysis labs, this research facility is one of the best-equipped materials research centres in North America. Finally, the University of Waterloo has a small observatory, which is useful for teaching purposes.
Our computing facilities are excellent, and all graduate students have easy access to X-windows terminals and unix platforms. Our theoretical group has a cluster of multi-processor computer workstations that can be used to perform large-scale, extensive numerical simulations.The libraries at Waterloo, Guelph and Wilfrid Laurier University (also located in Waterloo) are linked by the internet, with advanced searching and reservation capabilities, allowing the widest possible range of access to our books, journals, computer-based indexes, information at other web sites, and databases around the country and the world. We have site licenses for all the major journals in physics, allowing first-hand internet access to journal articles as soon as they appear.
Offsite, our members carry out research at world-class facilities. Eleven of our members belong to the Canadian Institute for Neutron Scattering, which is currently making major additions to spectrometer facilities at Chalk River. Some of our members are participants in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO), which will provide us with new experimental information the behaviour of neutrinos and the interior of the sun. Our astronomers make use of international and space observing facilities at all wavelengths, including the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria, B.C., the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile, the Canada-France-Hawaii and James Clerk Maxwell Telescopes in Mauna Kea, and the Hubble Space Telescope. By the turn of the century we will also have access to twin 8-m telescopes (Hawaii and Chile) through Canada’s partnership in the international Gemini project and ODIN, a Swedish-French-Canadian satellite that is to be launched in 1999. Our Condensed Matter and Chemical Physics members regularly conduct experiments at synchrotron radiation research facilities including the Advanced Light Source (Berkeley, California), the US National Synchrotron Light Source (Brookhaven, New York), the Advanced Photon Source (Argonne, Illinois), and will soon make use of the Canadian Light Source (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan).
