Burton Brody

Professor of Physics (at Bard since 1970)
Office: Hegeman 109
Phone: (845) 758-7229
E-mail: brody@bard.edu

Education

• Ph.D. Experimental Physics University of Michigan (1970)
• B.A. Physics Columbia University (1963)

Courses Commonly Taught

• Introduction to Physics II (PHYS 142) (second semester of the calculus-based introductory course)
• Electricity and Magnetism (PHYS 312) (intermediate-level theoretical course)
• Introduction to Electronics (PHYS 210) (lab-based introduction to analog, with a taste of digital)
• Introduction to Digital Electronics (PHYS 211) (basic analog, then build a small computer)
• Light & Color (PHYS 118) (non-major lab-based introduction to myriad phenomena, required for photo majors)

Teaching Statement

Teaching is very important to me: I spend much time with students and critiquing written work. Students (hopefully) learn from my comments, and with the insights I get from working with them and in small groups and commenting on their work I can be more responsive to their individual needs. I also have many outside interests, like languages and music, which I share with my students.

Research Statement

My most recent research, for more than ten years, has been with the Photon Echo group at Columbia University.

"Photon echoes" arise when an intense laser pulse coherently excites half the atoms in a sample then a second pulse reverses the excited and unexcited states that have drifted apart to recombine in an "echo" pulse an equal time later. The procedure can reveal the collision cross-section of a highly excited atomic state.

Earlier published research explored the mobilities of the charge carriers in superfluid helium at the extreme temperatures and pressures of below 1.8K and up to 26 atmospheres. The positive charge carrier turns out to be a helium ion surrounded by a polarized helium atom "snowball" whose radius depends on the ambient pressure; the negative charge carrier is an electron in a bubble!

In general I am a "table-top experimentalist": I like small-scale experiments where I can be in control. I supervise primarily experimental Senior Projects in a wide range of areas, including teaching students machining and electronics skills they need to do their experiments.

We recently got a large optics table and a nitrogen-laser-driven dye laser system, which will be used in many of my research projects. This set-up and all of the department's other equipment is available for student use in senior projects and other research projects. Students doing experimental projects usually have their own labs over the course of the project.

Other Activities

I advise students at Bard who are interested in engineering. Bard has Combined Plan affiliations with three prominent engineering schools, most actively with Columbia University. In the 3-2 format, after three years at Bard students transfer to Columbia., and after two more years they got B.A. from Bard and B.S. from Columbia. Students get the advantage of combining Bard's rich liberal arts education and doing their basic science in Bard's supportive atmosphere with the specialized engineering programs at Columbia.

Selected Publications

(small pedagogical articles in The Physics Teacher:)

• "Speed of Light - Making an Easy Time of It," PT 41, 276 (2003) (improvements in a time-of-flight measurement)
• "Destructive Interference with a Circular Saw Blade," PT 40, 250 (2002)
• "Dimensional Analysis in Calculus," PT 32, 367 (1994)
• "Yellow," PT 32, 220 (1994) (three different uses of the word: we need more jargon!)
• "Angled Beam Photon Echoes," R. Beach, B. Brody, and S.R. Hartmann; J. Opt Soc Am B1, 189 (1984)
• "Photon Echoes Made Simple," R. Beach, B. Brody, and S.R. Hartmann; Laser Chem 2, 3 (1983)
• "Charge Carrier Mobilities in Superfluid Helium Under Pressure," Phys. Rev. B11, 170 (1975)