This equipment often has additional unanticipated uses, such as lasers in surgery and microwave devices for ovens. A small number of physicists work in quality control, inspection, testing, and other production-related jobs in industry. These areas include high energy, plasma, and nuclear physics. Therefore, physicists in these subfields often work in large teams. In addition to time in labs, research physicists spend time in offices planning, recording, analyzing, and reporting on research.
Most physicists specialize in a subfield.
Some physicists specialize in a subdivision of one of these subfields. For example, within condensed matter physics, specialties include crystallography, semiconductors, and superconductivity. However, all physics involves the same fundamental principles, so specialties may overlap. Some physicists may switch from one subfield to another. Increasingly physicists work in combined fields such as biophysics, chemical physics, and geophysics.