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March 2, 2017 at 8:00 am

2015-16 Physics & Astronomy Summer Research Interns

The following are Physics & Astronomy summer research interns from 2015-16.

Zachary Bernens (with Julie Roche) ‘BCM Calibration and Charge Analysis for E12-06-114 Winter 2016’ Understanding the internal structure of protons and neutrons is a gateway to understand the origin of the vast majority of ordinary matter. A tool commonly used toward this goal is to smash accelerated electrons and smash them onto protons and neutrons targets. In that context, a precise count of the number of electrons impinging on the targets is essential to quantify their interactions. During his 2016 summer internship, Bernens analyzed data from a recently performed experiment, and estimated the number of electrons impinging on the target with a precision better than 1%.

Ari Blumer (with Martin Kordesch) ‘The Observation of MoS2 Two Dimensional Crystal Growth in a Tube Furnace at 1000C’ Blumer is building a system consisting of a furnace with an open area for viewing the growth of MoS2 crystals at up to 1000 C. The growth of these crystals is currently a “recipe” driven art. The actual process is usually hidden in the furnace, and the results are unreliable. Ari is looking at the process as it occurs, so that the growth of the material can be better controlled or tailored to the requirements of applications.

Zak Blumer (with Martin Kordesh) ‘TiN plasmonic solar-thermal concentrators fabricated by electrospinning’ Blumer fabricated a mat of electrospun high-temperature polymer fibers loaded with titanium nitride particles. The fibers were floated on the surface of water, and illuminated with a solar simulator. The fibers collected the incident radiation, heating the water below. The efficiency of this method of heating water with plasmonics particles embedded in the fibers was investigated.

Jack Bruno (with Arthur Smith) ‘Startup of a Laser Deposition System at Ohio University’ Bruno completed the setup of an excimer pulsed laser deposition system. After finishing the setup, Jack did the first tests of firing the laser and then the first tests of depos¬iting a series of thin metal films using this laser system. He began to develop a substrate heater for future growth of crystalline thin films.

Brandon Coleman (with Hee-Jong Seo) ‘Statistically measuring large-scale galaxy distribution’ Coleman’s project was to produce a python code that calculates the galaxy density field using cosmological N-body simulations and transform it to Fourier space.

Colton Feathers (with Carl Brune) ‘Accurate Determination of the Thicknesses of thin Films of Carbon-12 and Carbon-13’ Feathers performed experiments using alpha-particle beams at the Edwards Accelerator Laboratory to accurately determine the thicknesses of films of 12C and 13C. In preparation for the measurements, Colton learned about the energy loss of charged particles and the physics governing the probability of alpha-particle scattering. He was also trained to be an accelerator operator. These thickness measurements are important for determining the absolute normalizations of cross section measurements performed with other beams on these targets.

Taylor Gardner (with Ryan Chornock) ‘Insights on Supernova Ia Progenitors from Their Locations’ Limits on the Globular Cluster Production Efficiency of Type Ia Supernovae from their Spatial Distribution Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are produced by the explosions of white dwarf stars, but the identity of their progenitor systems has remained controversial. One currently popular model invokes a pair of white dwarfs in a binary system that merge. If it is true, many dynamical models predict that the formation rate of such systems should be substantially enhanced in the dense environments of globular clusters. Gardner constructed a large sample of SNe Ia that occurred in elliptical galaxies and examined the distribution of their spatial offsets from the nucleus to set upper limits on the presence of a population that follows the globular cluster spatial distribution instead of that for the stars as a whole.

Benjamin Hirt (with Martin Kordesch) ‘Electron emission behavior from selected electron emitters’ Hirt built an ultra-high vacuum “close-spaced diode test” system to investigate the electron emission from cold cathode and thermionic cathode electron emitters. He verified several fundamental equations from the physics of electron emission: The Fowler-Nordheim equation for field emission, anomalous field emission, the Richardson-Dushman equation for thermionic electron emission and Child’s law of space charge. Bare tungsten and graphene coated field emission tips were fabricated and tested. Bare tungsten wires and oxide coated cathodes were examined for their thermionic emission characteristics.

Daniel Ivory (with M Prakash) ‘Computational Physics’ Ivory learned computational techniques required to solve non-trivial problems encountered in many branches of physics and astrophysics through several projects laid out in the text book Computational Physics, by S.E. Koonin and D.C. Meredith.

Jamison Lahman (with M Prakash) ‘Computational Physics’ Lahman learned computational techniques required to solve non-trivial problems encountered in many branches of physics and astrophysics through several projects laid out in the text book Computational Physics, by S.E. Koonin and D.C. Meredith.

Miles Lindquist (with Eric Stinaff) ‘Photolithography for 2D materials device fabrication’ Lindquist has been using photolithography to produce metallic patterns. He then subsequently grows single layer films which form two dimensional semiconducting material between the metallic patterns. He is currently working on studying the dependence of the pattern sizes and geometry on the growth process.

Katelynn Nichols (with Gang Chen) ‘Optical Absorption Spectroscopy and Small-angle X-ray Scattering Studies of Metal Ion Diffusion in Ag-Ge-Se Thin Films’ Nichols learned how to syn-thesize amorphous thin films using a thermal evaporation method and how to characterize the electrical and optical properties and nanostructure of amorphous semiconductors.

Brandon Niese (with David Tees) ‘Adaptation of photolithographic techniques for fabrication of multi-channel microfluidic devices for assessment of cell rheology’ Niese learned and adapted photolithographic techniques for making microfluidic devices. He made single channel devices and also troubleshot issues with making multi-channel devices. He perfected protocols for filling the channels with fluid. He assessed the flow rates in the channels as a function of pressure using video microscopy. He continued work by graduate student Saroj Dhakal on using the image processing packing ImageJ to track cells as they travel through the channels.

Joseph Pincura (with Ryan Chornock) ‘A Search for Echoes of Old Tidal Disruption Events’ A Search for High-Ionization Emission Lines from Tidal Disruption Events at Late Times Tidal disruption events (TDEs) are objects where the supermassive black hole in the center of a galaxy disrupts and accretes a star that wanders too close. Joe worked with some spectra of four TDEs observed at late times with the 2.4 m telescope at MDM Observatory. Joe calibrated the raw data and analyzed the resulting spectra to put upper limits on the luminosity of certain high-ionization emission lines that have been seen in other possibly similar TDEs at late times.

Robert Radloff (with Paul King) ‘Qweak analysis procedure checks’ The Qweak experiment at Jefferson National Laboratory is a test of the Standard Model of Particle Physics, in which the parity-violating scattering of spin-polarized high-energy electrons from protons is used to determine the relative couplings of the electromagnetic and weak forces. The scattering rates for electron spins parallel or antiparallel to their motion are different by only about 200 parts per billion. During the analysis of the data, the measured difference in the rates is “blinded” by a hidden value to avoid subconscious bias in the analysis procedure. After all corrections have been determined, the final result is “unblinded” by subtracting the previously hidden value.

During his summer internship, Radloff verified that the blinding and unblinding procedures do not alter the final result. He did this by comparing the published result of the Qweak commisioning run with a new analysis which was otherwise identical except with the blinding disabled. He found the results without blinding were identical to the results after the blinding-and-unblinding process.

Sara Sand (with NOAA Hollings Internship, Colorado) ‘Using Doppler Lidar Data to Analyze Wind Turbine Wakes and Ramp Events’ Sand works with Dr. Yelena Pichugina and Alan Brewer at the Earth System Research Laboratory to analyze the length and velocity deficits of the wakes created by wind turbines using data collected from two Doppler lidars located in the Columbia River Basin in Oregon. Sand is using this data to do case studies on significant ramp events and the efficacy of our models in the complex terrain of this area.

Heath Scherich (with David Drabold) ‘Amorphous Zinc Oxide and GPU Computing’ Scherich worked with graduate student Anup Pandey and Drabold on making computer models of the novel electronic/thermoelectric material ZnO, and ported VASP to run on a GPU. A paper on ZNO is submitted to a scientific journal.

Charles Seacrist (with Hee-Jong Seo) ‘Sound waves in the gravitational week lensing survey’ Seacrist worked on estimating the probability of detecting Baryon Acoustic Oscillations directly from the dark matter distribution using weak lensing surveys.

Cole Spencer (with Eric Stinaff) ‘Nanoscale Lithography Using an Atomic Force Microscope’ Spencer has been working on making nanometer sized patterns using an atomic force microscope (AFM). Our goal is to see if a procedure we have developed to grow two dimensional material between metallic patterns will work on the nanometer scale. With optical lithography we can only make patterns on the order of 1 to 2 micrometers whereas most modern electronics have features as small as 14 nanometers. Cole’s work will help us explore the size limitations of our process.

Justin Thompson (with Gang Chen) ‘Kinetics of Conductive Filament Growth under Electric Field in Conductive Bridging Random Accessory Memory (CBRAM) Devices’ Thompson learned how to measure the electrical property of CBRAM materials and study the growth kinetics of conductive filaments under electric field.

Ryan Tumbleson (with Saw Hla, Argonne National Lab) ‘Scanning Tunneling Microscope Study of Nanomaterials’ Tumbleson learned how to use the Synchrotron X-Ray Scanning Tunneling Microscope at the Argonne National Lab. He assisted in preparation of the SXSTM for an experiment. During the fall semester and as part of the Hla Group, Tumbleson is preparing to drive a molecular car in the inaugural NanoCar Race taking place in April, 2017 in Toulouse, France.

Jacob Williamson (with Ryan Chornock) ‘The Nature of the Unusual Supernova 2005da’ Williamson continued his work from the previous summer. He examined the light curve and spectra of supernova (SN) 2005da. This object had previously been classified as a SN with high velocities from an energetic explosion. Instead, Jacob found evidence that the light curve of this SN decayed too quickly to be consistent with a SN of that type. Instead, it is more similar to a class of SNe that result from interaction of the SN explosion with circumstellar material that is deficient in hydrogen (and helium in this case).

View the complete 2015-16 newsletter as a pdf.

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