Research Facilities
Research Laboratories
Physics research at Auburn is supported by specialized laboratories designed to support experimental investigation across several areas of modern physics. These laboratories provide space and instrumentation for research in plasma physics, materials science, atomic physics and other areas of experimental physics.
Students and researchers work in collaborative research groups where laboratory facilities support the development of new experimental techniques, the testing of theoretical models and the investigation of physical phenomena across a wide range of scales.
Compact Toroidal Hybrid Fusion Experiment
One of the department’s most distinctive research facilities is the Compact Toroidal Hybrid (CTH) experiment, Auburn University’s magnetic confinement plasma device used to study high-temperature plasmas. The CTH experiment investigates how magnetic fields can confine and control plasma, helping researchers better understand plasma transport, stability and magnetohydrodynamic behavior relevant to fusion energy research.
The device can operate in multiple magnetic configurations and is used by faculty, graduate students and collaborators to explore fundamental plasma physics and develop computational models that describe plasma behavior.
Through this facility, Auburn researchers contribute to ongoing international efforts to better understand magnetic confinement and advance the science underlying future fusion energy systems.
Accelerator Laboratory
The department also maintains accelerator facilities that support research in atomic and nuclear physics. These laboratories enable experiments that investigate the interactions of charged particles with matter, supporting research in areas such as atomic collision processes, materials analysis and radiation physics.
Students working in accelerator laboratories gain experience with particle beams, detectors and measurement systems used to study atomic and subatomic phenomena.
Laboratory for Nanophotonics
The Laboratory for Nanophotonics supports research on light–matter interactions at the nanoscale. The facility combines techniques from solid-state physics and optics to study how light behaves in reduced dimensions and to develop new approaches for manipulating optical phenomena in advanced materials and devices.
AMO Physics Laboratory
The AMO Physics Laboratory houses instrumentation used to study interactions between atoms, molecules and ionizing radiation. Experiments in the laboratory explore fundamental processes in atomic and molecular physics and contribute to research in spectroscopy, radiation physics and related fields.
Dusty Plasma Facility
The Dusty Plasma Facility contains a powerful magnet used to generate and study dusty plasmas, which consist of charged particles suspended within a plasma environment. Research conducted in the facility investigates plasma dynamics and particle interactions in strongly magnetized systems.
Computational Facilities
Physics research at Auburn is supported by significant computational resources, including local computing clusters and access to national supercomputing systems. Faculty and students use these resources to perform numerical simulations, analyze experimental data and model complex physical systems across many areas of physics research.
