Polarization Properties of Half-wave Plates

Nicholas Clyde with John Ruhl Polarization Properties of Half-wave Plates Millimeter wave optical components are useful for current Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB) experiments in the field of astrophysics. Therefore, it is useful to characterize these components. The purpose of this study is to test specifically the polarization properties of Millimeter...

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Measuring Scattering, Absorption, and Reflection Properties for Filters in the South Pole Telescope

Kristen McKee with John Ruhl Measuring Scattering, Absorption, and Reflection Properties for Filters in the South Pole Telescope A current problem with many ground-based telescope experiments, such as the South Pole Telescope, is that the optical loading on the detectors is undesirably high. In the South Pole Telescope, millimeter-wavelength photons from...

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Axion Electrodynamics

Michael Sammon with Harsh Mathur Axion Electrodynamics Axions were introduced in particle physics in the 1970s to explain CP violation in the standard model. Subsequently axions have become a leading candidate for dark matter in Cosmology. The axion field has an unusual coupling to electromagnetism leading to remarkable electromagnetic phenomena that...

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The Relativistic Hofstadter Problem

Evan Telford with Harsh Mathur The Relativistic Hofstadter Problem Hofstadter studied electrons in a strong magnetic field perturbed by a weak periodic potential on a square lattice. He found that the energy levels plotted as a function of the magnetic field formed a beautiful pattern with a recursive structure now Hofstadter...

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Modeling Gamma Ray Background from LUX

Dylan Yurgionas with Dan Akerib and Tom ShuttModeling Gamma Ray Background from LUX Characterization of background is important for finding WIMP recoil events. Based on their cross sections, WIMPs will only scatter once inside the two phase xenon detector, LUX.  Incident gamma rays from trace radioactive impurities in detector...

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