Several impressive research laboratories are housed in Connecticut College's department of physics, astronomy and geophysics. You can work with faculty members on exciting research projects. Much of our research equipment is designed and fabricated right here at the College, giving you unique and boundless opportunities to design, construct and test different systems.

  • The 14-inch Planewave Instruments CDK350 telescope in Olin Observatory is equipped with a modern CMOS camera, on which students conduct differential photometry projects on various celestial objects, including active galactic nuclei, star clusters, comets, and asteroids. Contact Professor Alex Gianninas for more information.
  • The state's largest recirculating hydraulic flume used to replicate flow in natural rivers. This system circulates more than 10 gallons a second to produce patterns of erosion and deposition. Turbulence can be measured with an acoustic Doppler velocimeter.A photonics laboratory that hosts a fully-automated semiconductor device characterization setup, a high-speed optoelectronic system for generation of high power and short optical pulses for free-space optical communication applications. Contact Professor Doug Thompson for more information.
  • The photonics lab hosts a fully-automated semiconductor device characterization setup, a high-speed optoelectronic system for generation of high power and short optical pulses for free-space optical communication applications. The photonics research focuses on the invention of new semiconductor device concepts, the practical realization of those devices, and their integration into subsystems. Contact Professor Mohamed Diagne for more information.
  • The frequency comb spectroscopy lab uses highly specialized lasers – optical frequency combs – which behave like a combination of hundreds of thousands of lasers, allowing them to act as "rulers" for light. Our research focuses on low-cost construction and stabilization of fiber-based optical frequency combs and their usage to precisely measure near-infrared molecular rovibrational transitions. Contact Professor Daniel Maser for more information.