Friedman's work focuses on the process of "quantum tunneling," a process in which molecular magnets reverse their polar orientation in environments in which such reversal is traditionally impossible.
"Imagine you have a magnet. It has a north pole and a south pole. If you stick it on the refrigerator, it's not going to spontaneously switch directions," Friedman explained. "But if you make magnets smaller and smaller and smaller, you get to the point that the thermal energy present is enough to cause the magnet to reverse. If you get close to absolute zero, the magnets can still reverse, even though there shouldn't be enough energy to do that."
Friedman uses an analogy to explain his research to those unfamiliar with the language of physics. "If you think of the process as a couple of valleys separated by a ridge, the first valley [representing a magnet] pointing up and the second pointing south, and you've got a boulder stuck in one well because we don't have enough energy to get the boulder up over the ridge," said Friedman. "Quantum tunneling allows [the boulder] to go from one valley to the other without having enough energy to pass over the top. We say that it has tunnelled through to the other side. I'm working with a handful of atoms, trying to reverse direction by tunneling."
Friedman came to Amherst a year and a half ago from SUNY-Stony Brook, where he was noted for his study of quantum superposition and has found the liberal arts environment to be supportive of his research.
"I think Amherst is a great place to do research," Friedman said. "I have good colleagues, a good machine shop and great support personnel. It's a pleasure to do research with the best undergrads in the nation. It's great to get to work with the best students whether they're grad students or undergrads."
Physics major Douglas Orbaker '04 took a class, Physics 42: Mechanics, with Friedman last spring. "He's a great teacher and it was a great class. He's really engaging, funny and challenging. He's in his office a lot-he's very accessible," said Orbaker.
After looking at Friedman's work, Orbaker decided to work in a lab with Friedman over the summer.
"I thought it looked really interesting," said Orbaker of the work. "He's a good boss, he was really interesting. He's a good guy to work with. He's really knowledgeable. I learned a whole lot."
Friedman had previously won the Agilent Technologies Europhysics Prize for his graduate work with molecular magnets.
Friedman received one of only 20 Cottrell grants that are awarded each year, according to a College press release.