Electrical Engineering fields close to Physics

[Rio1210]

Hello everyone,

I am a junior year EEE student ( in a South Asian country ) and I will have to declare my thesis topic pretty soon. Anyway, the reason I am here is that I love Physics and want to migrate to something that is more heavy on the theoretical side. Things like particle physics, standard model and quantum mechanics. I am not yet sure if want to completely do a masters/PhD in Physics, but that's something I'm pondering.

What I want to know are fields I can pursue that are closely related to Physics (has plenty of advanced Quantum mechanics, electromagnetic waves and fields and such). One thing I hate is circuits; can't stand it. I know it's ironical, and it's not like I am really bad at it. I just don't like it. So anything else. One field that I've looked up and that I find interesting is Plasma Physics, but I don't know if I'll be accepted from the EEE background, and even if I'm accepted I don't want to end up doing the "Electrical Stuffs" in the research group.

I know I've been quite vague in my questions, but I'm betting on that you guys would understand my problem. Please suggest some fields for me in which I can pursue my Masters/PhD. Thanks.

 

[ZapperZ]

Hello everyone,

I am a junior year EEE student ( in a South Asian country ) and I will have to declare my thesis topic pretty soon. Anyway, the reason I am here is that I love Physics and want to migrate to something that is more heavy on the theoretical side. Things like particle physics, standard model and quantum mechanics. I am not yet sure if want to completely do a masters/PhD in Physics, but that's something I'm pondering.

What I want to know are fields I can pursue that are closely related to Physics (has plenty of advanced Quantum mechanics, electromagnetic waves and fields and such). One thing I hate is circuits; can't stand it. I know it's ironical, and it's not like I am really bad at it. I just don't like it. So anything else. One field that I've looked up and that I find interesting is Plasma Physics, but I don't know if I'll be accepted from the EEE background, and even if I'm accepted I don't want to end up doing the "Electrical Stuffs" in the research group.

I know I've been quite vague in my questions, but I'm betting on that you guys would understand my problem. Please suggest some fields for me in which I can pursue my Masters/PhD. Thanks.

Accelerator physics, detector physics, device physics, plasma physics, and material science.

Zz.

 

[Quantum Defect]

Hello everyone,

I am a junior year EEE student ( in a South Asian country ) and I will have to declare my thesis topic pretty soon. Anyway, the reason I am here is that I love Physics and want to migrate to something that is more heavy on the theoretical side. Things like particle physics, standard model and quantum mechanics. I am not yet sure if want to completely do a masters/PhD in Physics, but that's something I'm pondering.

What I want to know are fields I can pursue that are closely related to Physics (has plenty of advanced Quantum mechanics, electromagnetic waves and fields and such). One thing I hate is circuits; can't stand it. I know it's ironical, and it's not like I am really bad at it. I just don't like it. So anything else. One field that I've looked up and that I find interesting is Plasma Physics, but I don't know if I'll be accepted from the EEE background, and even if I'm accepted I don't want to end up doing the "Electrical Stuffs" in the research group.

I know I've been quite vague in my questions, but I'm betting on that you guys would understand my problem. Please suggest some fields for me in which I can pursue my Masters/PhD. Thanks.

Things like quantum optics, laser science, photonics, optical electronics etc. are still very much active areas in-between engineering and physics. There have been a flurry of reports in the US and abroad calling for investment in these areas of research: e.g. US: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/NSTC/ftac-op_pssc_20140417.pdf Europe: http://spie.org/x105060.xml?WT.mc_id=MSPIEPROGBW

 

[nashed]

I can't speak from first hand experience but where I study EE undergrads are required to take specialization groups that are supposed to give them a taste of the different that EEs go to, two such groups that are physics heavy are electro-optics & waves where the sudents go more in-depth into QM and general wave phenomena, the other group is micro&nano electronics where the students learn the students learn the physics of semiconductors ( including courses such as solid state physics, QM and statistical physics), I don't know how much that info helps but I assume that looking into these areas might lead to some new insights or other directions to look