| Michael A. Morrison | |
| Title: | David Ross Boyd Professor of Physics & General Education, Emeritus |
| Awards: | OU Presidential Professor |
| Oklahoma Medal for Excellence in Teaching | |
| Fellow of the American Physical Society | |
| Education: | B.S. 1971 Rice University |
| Ph.D. 1976 Rice University | |
| Office: | 239 Nielsen Hall |
| Phone: | 405-325-3961, ext. 36239 |
| Email: | |
| Research Home Page |
The primary emphasis of my theoretical research program in atomic, molecular, optical, and chemical physics is on purely quantum phenomena involving collisions at very low energies. Almost all of my projects entail close collaboration with experimental physicists, both here at the University of Oklahoma and at such other institutions as the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics and the Australian National University. Typically, our research blends formal mathematics and quantum mechanics, numerical algorithms and their computational implementation, and analysis of experimental data.
Our most recent research programs include
- development of new treatment of electron correlation in scattering problems, a merger of density functional theory and many-body theory;
- a new quantum collision theory that adapts R-matrix theory (of nuclear and atomic physics) to electron transport in mesoscopic nanoscale devices;
- an alternative to conventional Boltzmann kinetic theory of electron transport in molecular gases.
At present, we are exploring the schemes for the creation of samples of ultracold molecules via processes based on photoassociation of atom-atom collisions at extremely low relative kinetic energies. Beyond this horizon, we plan to extend this research to incorporate mechanisms for quantum control that will maximize the final population of translationally and vibrationally cold molecules. This research, a collaboration with two experimentalists and a theorist in our Department, combines our long-standing interest in molecular physics and in near-threshold collision theory in contexts of great current interest to the atomic, molecular, optical, and chemical physics community.
Representative Publications:
- Michael A. Morrison, The Joy of Quantum Physics, (Oxford University Press, 2013).
- M.A. Morrison, R.E. Robson, R.D. White, Low-energy Charged Particles in Atomic and Molecular Gases (Princeton University Press, 2012).
- Michael A. Morrison, Understanding Quantum Physics: A User's Manual, (Prentice-Hall 1990).
- H. Feng, W. Sun, M.A. Morrison, and A.N. Feldt, "Exact inclusion of exchange in calculations of cross sections for vibrational excitation of N2 by low-energy electrons," J. Phys. B 42, 175201 (2009).
- A.N. Feldt and M.A. Morrison,"The ABCs of DCS: Analytic Born completion in the calculation of differential cross sections for electron scattering from a linear molecule," Phys. Rev. A 77, 012726 (2008).
- B.J. Bichsel, M.A. Morrison, N. Shafer-Ray and E.R.I. Abraham, "Experimental and theoretical investigation of the Stark effect for trapping cold molecules: application to nitric oxide," Phys. Rev. A 75, 023410 (2007).
- T. Jayasekera, M.A. Morrison and K. Mullen, "Cooling Electrons in Semiconductor Devices," Phys. Rev. B 75, 035316 (2007).
- M.A. Morrison and A.N. Feldt, "Through Scattering Theory with Gun and Camera: Coping with Conventions in Collision Theory," Amer. Jour. Phys. 75, 67 (2007).