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Kent Leung

Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy, College of Science and Mathematics

Office:: Richardson Hall 269A
Email:: leungk@montclair.edu
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STUDENT DROP-IN HOURS in my office (Richardson 269A):

Fri Nov 15, 3:30p - 5:00p
Tue Nov 19, (Casabona competition. Might be late)
Fri Nov 22, 3:30p - 5:00p
Tue Dec 26, 3:30p - 5:00p
Fri Dec 29, (Thanksgiving)
Tue Dec 03, 3:30p - 5:00p
Fri Dec 06, 3:30p - 5:00p
Tue Dec 10, (away in meeting/conference)
Fri Dec 13, 3:30p - 5:00p
Tue Dec 17, 3:30p - 5:00p
Fri Dec 20, 3:30p - 5:00p

Work number (call or text): +1 (973) 826-7001
‬Do not hesitate to reach out if I'm supposed to be in my office or the first door into the RICH 269 suite is locked.

Doctor of Natural Science: Technical University of Munich, Germany (2007-2013)
Research Assistant Professor: Duke University, Durham, NC (2020-2021)
Research Assistant Professor: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC (2017-2020)
Post-doc: North Carolina State University (2013-2017)
Ph.D. research fellow: Institute Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France (2007-2011)
B.S. & M.S.: University of Auckland, New Zealand (2005 & 2007)
Affiliated faculty: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC (2021-current)

The website for the Montclair State Experimental Nuclear Physics research group is here:
https://montclairstatenuclear.wordpress.com/

My research interests are in nuclear physics, fundamental symmetries, and searches for Beyond Standard Model physics. I am particularly interested in low-energy, high-precision experiments, performed at low-temperatures involving neutrons. These experiments allow us to address fundamental questions, such as:
- How was more normal matter than anti-matter generated during the Big Bang?
- Are there undiscovered forces or particles out there, and could these explain the missing Dark Matter?
- What are the symmetries of our physical laws? Why are some violated, some conserved, and some extremely fine-tuned?
- How did the primordial light elements form during the Big Bang?
- How do protons, neutrons, and quarks interact to form nuclei?

In order to push our experiments to the next-level of precision, we constantly implement and develop cutting-edge technologies. The interdisciplinary techniques I'm interested in are, for example, cryogenic devices and apparatuses involving superconductors and superfluid helium at milli-Kelvin temperatures, quantum sensors for magnetic and electric fields, nuclear magnetic resonance with hyper-polarized gases at low fields, scintillation and fluorescence radiation detection, synthesis of high-purity deuterated polymers and coatings, and surface morphology and properties measurements.

I was a first-generation university student from asylum-seeking parents in Hong Kong who then immigrated to New Zealand, where I grew up. I got hooked on physics after reading A Brief History of Time by the brilliant Stephen Hawking during my final year of high school, a time when I was unsure about university. I am a firm believer that diverse backgrounds serve to enrich physics. I try to link physics to everyday experiences in the classroom to highlight that it is not obscure and esoteric, but, rather, physics is in action everywhere around us. Physics is a leading driving force of current and future technologies and is essential for in-depth understanding in a diverse range of fields.

Specialization

Nuclear physics, in particular experimental low-energy nuclear physics involving neutrons and tests of Fundamental Symmetries.

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