Our PhD programs in the Department of Physics focus on two fields of specialization: Particle Physics and Medical Physics. The specialization in medical physics is accredited by CAMPEP. We are a research-intensive department and the doctorate involves a substantial research project which builds on the courses taken. The location of the research depends on the specialization and the choice of thesis supervisor.
The program is linked with the University of Ottawa through the Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Physics (OCIP) which allows both universities to offer a broad spectrum of physics programs that are complementary between the two campuses. Learn more about Ottawa-Carleton Joint Institutes.
Want to know more about our Physics research? Read about Professor Rowan Thomson’s research to improve cancer treatment. You can also read about Carleton physicists’ search of Particles Beyond Standard Model.
Capital Advantage
Our students benefit both research-wise and career-wise from a multitude of resources available in Canada’s capital city. The foremost of these is the network through OMPI – the Ottawa Medical Physics Institute – which enables our Medical Physics specialization to be offered in collaboration with medical physicists from leading centres including The Ottawa Hospital and its Cancer Centre, the National Research Council, Health Canada, and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Students also benefit from the fact that Carleton is a member of TRIUMF, which is Canada’s national centre for particle and nuclear physics, and we are a participant in major international collaborations such as the ATLAS experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider and neutrino physics experiments such as EXO at SNOLAB.
Fields of Specialization
Faculty Research Highlights
- Phenomenology of elementary particles, hadron physics, string theory
- Detector instrumentation and design, physics simulation, experimental operations and data analysis on world acclaimed projects.
- Medical imaging physics: MRI, PET and nuclear medicine, x ray
- Cancer therapy physics: Radiation dosimetry and radiotherapy
- Medical biophysics: Radiation biology
