Top 39 Doctoral Programs in Physics 2019

The Ph.D. program in the graduate field of Applied Physics (AP) provides students with mastery of a broad knowledge base in applied physics, as well as advanced research focuses that prepare them for successful research-driven careers in academia, government or industry.

As a nationally and internationally recognized Ph.D. program, NJIT’s Applied Physics Ph.D. program prepares Ph.D. candidates with practical skills and theoretical knowledge for a successful career in academic or government organizations and private industry. Students will prepare for passing their written qualifier exams, as well as gain the theoretical and experimental background needed for their research, which they will orally present and defend as part of their Ph.D. thesis. Throughout their study as a Ph.D. candidate, students will exhibit the following:... [-]

QBM seeks to train a cohort of young scientists who, while firmly anchored in their home discipline, are well versed in multiple approaches and styles of thought. The goal is for the students to get comfortable in communicating across traditional boundaries, especially across the divide between experiment and quantitative theory – to become, in effect, scientifically bi- or multilingual. To this end, the school offers an integrated interdisciplinary Ph.D. program that consists of three main components:

The objective of graduate work in physics is to prepare the student for continued professional and scholarly development as a physicist. The Physics Master of Science Degree Programs are designed to give the student advanced training in all fundamental areas of physics through formal courses and the options of some degree of specialization or participation in original research in one of a variety of projects directed by the faculty. The Doctor of Philosophy in Physics and Applied Physics Program combines the traditional elements of a science doctoral program with courses in specifically applied topics and internship in a technological environment. It is designed to produce highly trained professionals with a broad perspective of the subject which may prepare them equally well for careers in academic or government or industrial laboratories.... [-]

KTU and the University of Southern Denmark (Denmark) joint doctoral programme in the field of physics provides competencies and knowledge in the areas of condensed matter, interaction of radiation and matter, optical spectroscopy; the programme offers a wide range of topics and general experimental and theoretical research in the areas of meso, micro and nanostructures, photonic structures, including their formation, analysis and application in plasmonics, biosensors and alternative energy. Research involves the use of new functional materials, modern technologies (electron-beam lithography, reactive plasma etching, and holographic lithography) and progressive research methods (spectroscopic ellipsometry, Raman scattering, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, ultra-rapid process spectroscopy, etc.). Students of this programme have the possibility to acquire a double doctor degree at Shizuoka University (Japan).... [-]

PhD in Physics

The graduate physics program at Koç University is carried on by our world-renowned faculty who specialize mainly in quantum theory and optics. All the research laboratories are state-of-the-art. We publish papers in top journals on quantum gravity and astrophysics, atom-photon interactions, Bose-Einstein condensates, lasers, and photonics. We admit mostly PhD students with full-scholarship. The MS program without thesis is recently introduced and may appeal to those who are not going to pursue an academic career. All our graduate students find the opportunity of close everyday contact in research with the world-class faculty. We encourage them to take courses from the other program as well so that they can broaden their interests. We also get this way some of the brightest students at the university coming to the physics classes. Our graduates mostly continue as post-docs at the best universities in the world and eventually go to academic life. Others have no difficulty in finding jobs in business or industry. ... [-]

Graduates will possess competency in basic principles of physics.

Graduates will possess an advanced and deep knowledge of their own research area of specialization.

Graduates will be highly skilled in using advanced scientific experimental/observational/computational/theoretical methods and/or tools appropriate to their area of specialization.

The most important outcome of their Ph.D. will be the ability to perform independent and innovative research, developing a critical thinking, the capability of working in an advanced and international research environment.

They will be able to carry out an original scientific work at the leading edge of their field, producing a written dissertation.... [-]

Welcome to the Boston College Department of Physics. Our department’s primary focus is cutting-edge research concentrated in experimental and theoretical condensed matter physics. Over a relatively short period of time, we have become one of the leading condensed matter departments in the country. Some specific areas of current interest are superconductivity, photovoltaics, metamaterials, thermoelectrics, nanostructures and nanomaterials for biosensing, plasmonics, plasmas, topological insulators, novel electronic materials, and other strongly correlated electron systems.

Graduate students share in this research, gaining the technical and intellectual training needed for future success in the career paths of their choice. The department includes 17 faculty, numerous post-docs and about 50 graduate students, all of whom are supported by teaching assistantships or research assistantships.... [-]

Joining the Department of Physics as a postgraduate student is an exciting prospect. The Department has received worldwide recognition for its research breakthroughs. The strong research culture within the Department, and in the University as a whole, has encouraged such success, which has been characterized by frequent collaboration between experimental and theoretical faculty members.

By pursuing research at the frontier of knowledge and innovation at the cutting edge of technology, our faculty seeks to preserve and nurture a sense of wonder about the natural world and to impart it to students as a lasting motivation for learning. Our postgraduate programmes seek to provide students with a solid grounding in broad physics principles and techniques, an ambience conducive to creative and innovative activities, and opportunities for cross- and inter-disciplinary research.... [-]

PhD Thesis Research in Physics

The purpose of the Ph.D. in Physics is to provide qualifying students with an in-depth understanding and integrated knowledge of advanced applicable theory in the field of physics. A Ph.D. in Physics is a pure science-based research study that requires candidates to demonstrate high-level research capability and make a significant and original academic contribution at the frontiers of the discipline of specialization.

The PhD in Physics demands a very high level of intellectual, theoretical and practical specialized science knowledge and insight into problems related to the field of study and of the application of advanced experimental methods and techniques of the modern research, as well as of fundamental scientific and academic values in generating, processing, interpreting and presenting research data orally and in written form.... [-]

The program is based on an interdisciplinary education at the interface of physics, chemistry, and biology from the physical point of view and focused on physical experimental and theoretical approaches. The program prepares experts for independent scientific work in solving tasks of basic and applied research in the interdisciplinary fields between physics, chemistry and, according to the theme of dissertation work, biology.

The program does not contain specializations.

Admission for studies

Admission for studies will be granted to the applicants, who:

The Graduate Study is organized by the Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry in cooperation with a number of Institutes of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (The Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry, Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Processes, etc.) and covers almost all fields of Physical Chemistry (including Biophysical Chemistry and Physical Chemistry of Polymers) and some disciplines of Chemical Physics. Due to the interdisciplinary character of the Department, there exist possibilities of combined graduate studies with biochemical, or macromolecular orientation, despite the fact that the Faculty of Science offers separate Graduate Studies both in Biochemistry and Macromolecular Chemistry.... [-]

The program of Doctorate in Laser, Photonics and Vision Is an Interuniversity program that is offered jointly with the Universities of Santiago de Compostela and Vigo.

It is designed for advanced training in the field of Laser technologies, Photonics and Vision techniques. Its final objective is to provide a training of scientific excellence to future researchers and professionals in this field, thus responding to the growing demand for training for its integration into the national and international R & D & I system.

In socio-political terms, the scientific-technical sector of science and optical and photonic technology is of extreme importance for the great challenges of the 21st century. The European Union has identified Photonics as one of six key enabling technologies (KET), whose development will determine the competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of European industry's long-term employment. Investment in these technologies will be given priority attention in EU R & D & I policies, not only because of their impact on the Union's industrial and innovation capacity, but also because of their effect on social challenges such as Efficiency and independence of energy, health and health care or transportation, among others.... [-]

The scientific research within the School of Mathematics and Physics was highly rated in the 2014 REF peer-review exercise, with 70% of research being judged as internationally excellent or world-leading. Physics research activity in the School is focused into five specific Research Centres; all members of academic staff belong to one of these Research Centres, listed below.

Registration is on a full-time or part-time basis, under the direction of a supervisory team appointed by the University. You will be expected to submit your thesis at the end of three years of full-time registration for Ph.D., or two years for MPhil (or part-time equivalent).... [-]

Understanding the working principles of living organisms and soft matter systems from the basic equations ruling the dynamics of atoms and molecules was considered science fiction until a few years ago, and biophysics was almost unanimously considered a battlefield for phenomenologists. Nowadays, applying rigorous physics to biological processes is no longer a dream. What’s more, it is becoming clear that the next few decades will be the golden age for the “theory of life”, which is expected to undergo the same accelerating growth experienced by other physics disciplines in the past century.

Young scientists attracted by the opportunity to develop and apply concepts, models and methods to explore the still uncharted territory of quantitative biology can take up this challenge in our Ph.D. programme in Physics and Chemistry of Biological Systems.... [-]