The Master’s Programme in Physics offers four different profiles: Computational Physics, Photonics, Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, and Theoretical Physics. Here you find more information about these profiles and which courses are included.
Computational physics covers the essential parts of computer-based calculation, simulation, and visualization. These different techniques make it possible to describe and analyze complicated physical phenomena. They can also be used for modeling and analysis of systems within e.g., quantum chemistry, biology, and economics. Research can often be streamlined by combining experiments and physical models with computer-based simulation. In this way, you can optimize an experiment virtually before performing it. In the business world, you can, in the same way, optimize a product before it is put into production. Simulation, computer calculations and visualization are also used a lot in theoretical research.
For example, it is used for solving complicated differential equations, or simulating complicated physical systems. Some examples of the use of calculation techniques are simulations of multi-particle systems such as liquids, gases and plasmas, optimization of acoustics, analysis of heat flows, analysis of X-ray and satellite data, simulation of heating systems, development of training simulators for e.g., healthcare or forestry and the development of computer games and film.
In addition to the general entry requirements, you should also have studied a first course in programming, and a first course in numerical methods.
Profile courses – Computational Physics
Year 1 – Autumn Semester
Year 1 – Spring Semester
Year 2 – Autumn Semester
Year 2 – Spring Semester
Photonics is science that aims to understand and utilize photons to measure, store, create and transfer energy, create light, or transmit information. The profile suits you who want a solid experimental education in how light and photons can be used in various applications or learn more about different types of advanced materials with properties that are suitable for such applications. The profile covers, among other things, laser technology. Lasers are used in a large number of areas in research and development.
At the Department of Physics, among other things, various types of laser-based spectroscopic techniques are developed for sensitive and non-invasive detection of atoms and molecules for various applications, for example chemical analysis and environmental measurements. Laser light is also used to manipulate small objects, from atoms to micrometer-sized living biological objects. Free atoms are captured and cooled to temperatures less than a millionth of a degree from absolute zero, enabling advanced studies of fundamental physics. Larger objects, such as living cells or bacteria, can be handled non-invasively using so-called optical tweezers, which provides the opportunity for studies of interactions between single cells and bacteria. Possibilities that have opened are to measure small binding forces between individual bacteria and different types of tissue surfaces.
Examples of things you learn within the profile are how advanced optics and photonics components work such as interferometers, spectrometers, lasers and cameras. You will learn to manufacture several such components, for example lasers and cameras. The courses are very close to research and many of the courses contain project work that gives you a close connection to the experimental research at the department focusing on nanotechnology, organic electronics, optical tweezers or spectroscopy. The experimental courses give you a good basis for working in research and development with the orientations described above. Some of the courses include an in-depth look at solid state physics and describe processes and transport phenomena in solid materials or gases.
Examples of questions and theories that are addressed in the courses included in this profile are:
In addition to the general prerequisites of the programme, you should also have previously studied wave physics, electrodynamics, and solid-state physics.
Courses - Photonics
Year 1 – Autumn Semester
Year 1 – Spring Semester
Year 2 – Autumn Semester
Year 2 – Spring Semester
This profile provides a basic understanding of how various advanced materials can be applied such as supercapacitors, organic electronics, solar cells, and superconductors. The profile also includes an in-depth treatment of different types of nanostructured materials, such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, graphene, quantum dots.
This deepening is of both theoretical and experimental nature and a focus is on strongly integrating these skills.
Questions such as:
are central to the profile. Several courses also deal with various experimental techniques used to understand and characterize these materials, as well as techniques such as lithography, thin film production and wet chemical methods used to produce different types of nanostructures.
In addition to the general prerequisites for the programme, you should also have previously studied a course in solid state physics, a first course in programming, and a first course in numerical methods.
Courses – Advanced Materials
Year 1 – Autumn Semester
Year 1 – Spring Semester
Year 2 – Autumn Semester
Year 2 – Spring Semester
The profile provides an in-depth look at fundamental theoretical physics. Here, the different types of interaction found in nature are treated, both on a classical and quantum mechanical level. To be able to describe nature at the atomic level, classical physics is not enough, but a quantum mechanical description is required. Within the profile, in-depth knowledge of various methods in quantum mechanics is given, with which more complex issues can be addressed. From quantum mechanics, we move on to quantum field theory, where even the fields are quantized so that, for example, particles can be created and destroyed. This is then applied to, among other things, electromagnetism, and the weak interaction. In general relativity, among other things, black holes and gravitational waves are studied, which are waves that propagate as ripples in space and time. Advanced methods for studying these tiny ripples have been developed and are now so refined that we can even determine their origin, such as two colliding black holes. The profile also includes plasma physics, i.e., the study of how ionized gases interact with electromagnetic fields. The equations governing plasmas, and the field equations in general relativity, are non-linear. This gives rise to different types of phenomena that are covered in a course in nonlinear physics. Furthermore, astrophysical phenomena are also treated, for example the physics of stars and their life cycle, and cosmology, i.e. the study of the large-scale structure and development of the universe.
In addition to the general prerequisites for the programme, you should also have studied a first course in programming, and a first course in numerical methods.
Courses – Theoretical Physics
Year 1 – Autumn Semester
Year 1 – Spring Semester
Year 2 – Autumn Semester
Year 2 – Spring Semester