Annyun Das Recognized with Galileo Circle Scholarship and Graduate Travel Award
Annyun Das, PhD Candidate
The University of Arizona Department of Physics celebrated its Spring 2026 graduating class on May 15 during a ceremony held in PAS 201, bringing together alumni, donors, graduating students, and their families for an evening recognizing academic excellence and achievement.
Among the students honored was Annyun Das, who was selected as a College of Science Galileo Circle Scholar and received the Department of Physics.
Fanfare Graduate Travel Award, recognizing both academic merit and research excellence. Annyun conducts research under the guidance of Assistant Professor Kanu Sinha, whose mentorship has supported her work in quantum optics and atomic physics.
Annyun’s research focuses on understanding how atomic arrays, ordered, periodically arranged atoms, interact with electromagnetic fields, and how these systems can be engineered to control quantum fluctuation phenomena such as spontaneous emission and Casimir-Polder forces.
“I study how atomic arrays, i.e., ordered arrays of atoms arranged in a periodic fashion, manifest boundary conditions for the electromagnetic field, and how we can engineer quantum fluctuation phenomena like spontaneous emission and Casimir–Polder forces around them by controlling the quantum properties of atomic arrays,” Annyun shared.
Reflecting on her motivation, she added:
“The questions that excite me have always been the ones about fundamental phenomena around us. Quantum optics helps me address those questions at the most basic level, and that’s what motivates me.”