Charles Agosta, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics
Department of Physics
Clark University
Worcester, MA 01610-1477
Office: 231 BioPhysics
Laboratory: 141 BioPhysics
Office Phone: (508) 793-7736
Lab Phone: (508) 793-7680
Email: cagosta@clarku.edu
Professor Agosta received his B.A. from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. from Duke University. He completed post-doctoral work at Harvard University and at the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and joined the Clark faculty in 1991. He chairs the 3/2 Engineering Program Committee.
Professor Agosta is CEO of MachFlow Energy Inc., and received a grant of $1 million from the Department of Energy. Prof. Agosta’s superconductivity research is funded by the NSF.
Current Research and Teaching
C. Agosta is a low temperature experimental physicist who was originally trained to study the properties of fluids at very low temperatures. His present research interests are lower dimensional superconductors in very high magnetic fields, dc microgrids, and heat transfer in gas boundary layers.
Given his deep interest in complicated instrumentation, he and his students have developed a pulsed magnetic field laboratory where experiments are performed in one of the highest magnetic fields (51 tesla!) available at any university in the United States. His group studies anisotropic conducting materials at the extremes of parameter space, including temperature, pressure, and magnetic field to understand the relation of their chemical properties to correlated electron properties such as superconductivity, spin density waves, charge density waves, and the quantum Hall effect. Most of his measurements are made with a rf penetration depth technique developed in his laboratory and particularly well suited to the extreme conditions created in his laboratory. At his laboratory the magnetic field can be increased much above the level necessary to quench the superconducting or other correlated electron state to observe quantum oscillations and probe the Fermi surface. In this way, he can explore the fundamental properties of the charge carriers and test current theories of correlated electrons.
Agosta is also CEO and co-founder of Machflow Energy, Inc., a clean-tech company that is developing highly innovative heat transfer technologies revolutionizing air conditioning and thermal management. Machflow has created a disruptive Bernoulli Principle-based heat pump that works in a closed cycle using noble gasses that have no adverse effects on the environment, such as global warming, and avoids high pressures and the weight of the associated compressors. Machflow was funded by Kleiner Perkins, the DOE, and prominent angel investors.
Professor Agosta and his cofounder have been granted six patents for their work at Machflow Energy.
Professor Agosta teaches many of the core courses in the Physics Department, but specializes in two signature courses, Electronics and The Technology of Renewable Energy. His renewable energy course is focusing on the technical and social issues of converting part of the campus to a dc microgrid, and leveraging the cogeneration plant on campus and future renewable energy sources. His most recent project is helping his students install a solar powered eight port USB charging station in the campus cafe.
Prof. Agosta’s superconductivity research is funded by the NSF.
Selected Publications
Charles C. Agosta, "Inhomogeneous Superconductivity in Organic and Related Superconductors," a review article in “Advances in Organic Conductors and Superconductors” Ed., Dr. Martin Dressel, Crystals 8, 285 (2018). https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst8070285
Charles C. Agosta, Nathanael A. Fortune, Scott T. Hannahs, Shuyao Gu, Lucy Liang, Ju-Hyun Park, and John A. Schleuter “Calorimetric Measurements of Magnetic-Field-Induced Inhomogeneous Superconductivity Above The Paramagnetic Limit,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 267001 (2017). https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.267001
Charles C Agosta, Logan Bishop-Van Horn, Max Newman, “The Signature of Inhomogeneous Superconductivity,” J Low Temp. Phys, 185, 220 (2016). http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10909-016-1657-y
C. C. Agosta, J Jin, B. E. Smith, K. Cho, W. A. Coniglio, I. Mihut, and C. Martin, S. W. Tozer, T. P. Murphy, and E. C. Palm, J. A. Schlueter, “The FFLO State in κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu(NCS)2, and A Semi-Empirical Method to Determine the Pauli-Limiting Field,” Phys. Rev. B, 85, 214514 (2012).http://prb.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v85/i21/e214514
William A. Coniglio, Laurel E. Winter, Kyuil Cho, and C. C. Agosta, B. Fravel, and L. K. Montgomery, “Unusual phase diagram and FFLO signature in λ-(BETS)2GaCl4 from RF penetration depth measurements,” ,” Phys. Rev. B, 83, 224507 (2011). http://prb.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v83/i22/e224507
K. Cho, H. Kim, M. A. Tanatar, Y. J. Song, Y. S. Kwon, W. A. Coniglio, C. C. Agosta, A. Gurevich, and R. Prozorov, “Anisotropic upper critical field and possible Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state in the stoichiometric pnictide superconductor LiFeAs,” Phys. Rev. B, 83, 060502(R) (2011). Rapid Communication http://prb.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v83/i6/e060502
C. Martin, C. C. Agosta, S. W. Tozer, H. A. Radovan, E. C. Palm, T. P. Murphy, and J. L. Sarrao “Evidence for the FFLO state in CeCoIn5 from penetration depth measurements” Phys. Rev. B 71, 020503 (2005). http://prb.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v71/i2/e020503
C. Martin, C. C. Agosta, S.W. Tozer, H. A. Radovan, T. Kinoshota, and M. Tokumoto “Critical field and Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations of κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu(NCS)2 under pressure” J. Low Temp. Phys. 138, 1025 (2005). http://springerlink.metapress.com/content/m78w8236h6231664/fulltext.pdf
T. Coffey, Z. Bayindir, J. F. DeCarolis, M. Bennett, G. Esper and C. C. Agosta, “Measuring Radio Frequency Properties Of Materials In Pulsed Magnetic Fields With A Tunnel Diode Oscillator,” Rev. Sci. Instr., 71, 4600 (2000).
http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/rsi/71/12/10.1063/1.1321301
J. S. Brooks, C. C. Agosta, M. Tokumoto, S. J. Klepper, A. S. Perel, G. Athas, D. A. Howe, “Novel Interplay of Fermi-Surface Behavior and Magnetism in a Low Dimensional Organic Conductor,” Phys. Rev. Lett., 69, 156 (1992).
Charles C. Agosta, Isaac F. Silvera, H.T.C. Stoof and B.J. Verhaar, “Trapping of Neutral Atoms with Resonant Microwave Radiation,” Phys. Rev. Lett., 62, 2361 (1989).
Charles C. Agosta, Suwen Wang, L. H. Cohen and H. Meyer, “Transport Properties of Helium near the Liquid-Vapor Critical Point. IV. The Shear Viscosity of 3He and 4He,” Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 67, 237 (1987).https://commerce.metapress.com/content/j773k4p11x373217
R. P. Behringer, J. N. Shaumeyer, C. A. Clark, and C. C. Agosta, “Turbulent Onset in Moderately Large Convecting Layers,” Phys Rev A, A26 , 3723 (1982).