James Garrison with Tanmay VachaspatiAn Investigation of Classically-Forbidden Quantum Detection and its Application to Island CosmologyIsland cosmology is a cosmological model that is an alternative to the inflationary paradigm. In island cosmology, the universe is initially void of matter but filled with cosmological constant. Quantum fluctuations of an existing...
Academic Year
Jonathan Glicoes with Dan Akerib & Richard SchneeInvestigation of Background Rejection in the Search for Dark MatterThe Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment seeks to demonstrate the existence of dark matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPS). In order to attempt to distinguish potential WIMPS from...
Edward Hawkins with Hiroyuki Fujita, Xiaoyu Yang & Robert BrownConstructing a Birdcage Coil, Facilitating Freedom from the MRI CageMagnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) represents the marriage of medicine and physics, producing images of the human body which are astoundingly accurate while employing only non-invasive shifting magnetic fields as detectors. Because...
Joseph Kolthammer with Kathy KashNear-Atmospheric Thermal Gradient Growth of Single Crystal Gallium NitrideGallium nitride (GaN) is a highly desirable wide bandgap semiconductor with myriad optoelectronic applications. Reliable GaN growth has in the past been limited to reactions at 10 kbar or greater pressures; a near-atmospheric process features much easier...
Chris Muscatello with Tanmay VachaspatiPropagation of Charged Particles with Spin in Helical Magnetic FieldsThe study of cosmic rays and their origin has both cosmological and astrophysical implications. Some previous works dealt with the propagation of charged particles through large-scale randomly distributed astrophysical magnetic fields. Magnetic fields are known to...
Christian Perez with Arnold Dahm (project started January 2005, finished in December 2005 )Quantum Computation: From Electron to QubitThe characterization of electron states for quantum computing with electrons on liquid He requires several proprietary components. Two of those are a low-T, low noise microwave bolometer and submicron electrode array...
Salem Ritenour with Corbin Covault (project started January 2006)Cosmic Ray Showers: Detectors, Simulation, and ReconstructionThe arrival of cosmic rays into earth's atmosphere poses a variety of scientific conundrums. One can examine these problems by devising methods of deducing the Entergy, arrival direction, and composition of the rays. Our approach...
Brian Tinker with William Fickinger (project started January 2006)History of Acoustics Research in the Physics DepartmentThe Case Physics Department has a rich history of research in acoustics, which peaked during the early 20th century. In particular, the department head, Dayton Miller, invented the phonodeik, the predecessor to modern oscilloscopes,...
Benjamin Titus with John Ruhl (project started January 2006)Development and Testing of Millimeter-wave Half-Wave Plates (draft abstract)In the project titled “Development and Testing of millimeter-wave Half-Wave Plates” we are testing a half-wave plate polarization rotator using birefringent sapphire crystals made by two different manufacturers. One of our goals is...
Colleen Woodward with Ken SingerLasing and Nonlinear Optics in Polymeric 1-D Photonic CrystalsNew techniques have been used to create high quality multilayer polymer films, forming one-dimensional photonic crystals. Films doped with active species will be used to study stimulated emission and other linear and nonlinear optical properties. These properties...