University of Tennessee Physics

Dr. John J. Quinn

Professor/Willis Lincoln Chair of Excellence
Ph.D., University of Maryland, 1958

Office: 210 South College
Phone: 865-974-4089
Fax: 865-974-7843
jjquinn@utk.edu

CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS

Understanding the electronic properties of solids has been a challenge to scientists for nearly a century. The simplest properties can be understood in terms of the energy states of single particles moving in a "mean-field" periodic potential. Many of the most interesting phenomena, however, are associated with the myriad interactions among the electrons in the solid. Structural phase transitions, magnetism, superconductivity, the Mott transition and the fractional quantum Hall effect are examples of such phenomena. Modern many body theory began about four decades ago with the development of modern mathematical techniques for treating many particle correlations. Dr. Quinn and his coworkers have taken an active role in studying many body effects in solids for many years. His group is currently studying the composite Fermion approach to strongly interacting two dimensional systems and the problem of exchange-correlation effects in a spin polarized electron gas.

Brief Vita

Professor John J. Quinn earned a B.S. in physics at St. John's University in 1954. He earned his Ph.D. in physics in 1958 at the University of Maryland, where he held a postdoctoral position from 1958-1959. He has been Professor of Physics and Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at The University of Tennessee since 1989 and Willis Lincoln Chair of Excellence at UT since 1992.

Previous Positions: member of the Technical Staff, RCA Laboratories (1959-64); Mary Amanda Wood Visiting Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania (1961-62); Visiting Professor of Physics, Purdue University (1964-65); Professor of Physics, Brown University (1965-89); Associate Provost, Brown University (1984-86); Ford Foundation Chair, Brown University (1985-89); Dean of the Faculty, Brown University (1986-89); Professor of Physics and of Engineering, Brown University (1986-89); Chancellor, The University of Tennessee, (1989-92).

Principal Professional Offices and Memberships: American Physical Society, (1956-present); IEEE (1987-present); Secretary-Treasurer, New England Section of APS (1967-68); Chair, Division of Condensed Matter Physics of APS (1979); Solid State Sciences Committee (1982-88); Divisional Associate Editor Physics Review B (1993-present); Vice Chair of Council of Presidents of Univ. Research Assoc. (1991-92).

Principal Awards: RCA Outstanding Achievement Award 1963; Naval Research Laboratory Research Awards, 1972, 1984; ScD Honoris Causa, Purdue University, 1992.

Selected Publications

  1. J.J. Quinn and R.A. Ferrell, "Electron Self-Energy Approach to Correlation in a Degenerate Electron Gas," Phys. Rev. 112, 812 (1958).
  2. J.J. Quinn, "Range of Excited Electrons in Metals," Phys. Rev. 126, 1453 (1962).
  3. J.J. Quinn and S. Rodriguez, "Electrodynamic Properties of a Quantum Plasma in a Magnetic Field," Phys. Rev. 128, 248 (1962).
  4. T.K. Lee, C.S. Ting, and J.J. Quinn, "Electron-Electron Interactions in the Surface Inversion Layer of a Semiconductor," Solid State Comm. 16, (1975).
  5. G. Giuliani and J.J. Quinn, "Charge Density Excitations at the Surface of a Semiconductor Superlattice: A New Type of Surface Wave," Phys Rev. Lett. 51, 919 (1983).
  6. X. Chen and J.J. Quinn, "Numerical Study of Fractional Quantum Hall Electron-Hole Systems: Evidence for Stable Anyonic Ions," Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2130 (1993).
  7. P. Sitko, S.N. Yi, K.S. Yi, and J.J. Quinn, "'Fermi Liquid' Shell Model Approach to Composite Fermion Spectra in Fractional Quantum Hall States," Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 3396 (1996).