Digital Commons Network^™

Effective Magnetic And Electric Response Of Composite Materials, Mona Hassan Alsaleh

Doctoral Dissertations

Metamaterials (MMs) are nanocomposite materials consisting of metal-dielectric resonators much smaller in size than the wavelength of the incident light. Common examples of metamaterials are based on split ring resonators (SRRs), parallel wires or strips and fishnet structures. These types of materials are designed and fabricated in order to provide unique optical responses to the incident electromagnetic radiation that are not available in naturally existing materials. The MMs can exhibit unusual properties such as strong magnetism at terahertz (THz) and optical frequencies. Additionally, negative index materials (NIMs) can provide negative index of refraction which can be used in many applications …

Electromagnetic Wave-Matter Interactions In Complex Opto-Electronic Materials And Devices, Raj Kumar Vinnakota

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the fundamentals of light-matter interaction towards applications in the field of Opto-electronic and plasmonic devices. In its core, this dissertation attempts and succeeds in the the modeling of light-matter interactions, which is of high importance for better understanding the rich physics underlying the dynamics of electromagnetic field interactions with charged particles. Here, we have developed a self-consistent multi-physics model of electromagnetism, semiconductor physics and thermal effects which can be readily applied to the field of plasmotronics and Selective Laser Melting (SLM). Plasmotronics; a sub-field of photonics has experienced a renaissance in recent years by providing a large …

Quantum Phase Transitions In Disordered Boson Systems, Zhiyuan Yao

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, we study the superfluid-insulator quantum phase transition in disordered boson systems. Recently, there has been considerable controversy over the validity of the scaling relations of the superfluid--Bose-glass quantum phase transition in three dimensions. Results from experimental and numerical studies on disordered quantum magnets contradict the scaling relations and the associated conventional scaling hypothesis for the singular part of the free energy. We determine various critical exponents of the superfluid--Bose-glass quantum phase transition in three-dimensional disordered Bose-Hubbard model through extensive Monte Carlo simulations. Our numerical study shows the previous studies on disordered quantum magnets were performed outside the …

Swelling Induced Deformation Of Thermally Responsive Hydrogels, Ying Zhou

Doctoral Dissertations

Hydrogels are crosslinked polymeric networks imbibed with aqueous solutions. They undertake dramatic volume changes through swelling and deswelling processes, which can be stimulated by factors like temperature, pH or different chemicals. These unique properties render hydrogels particularly interesting for shape morphing related applications. In this thesis, we focus on the swelling induced deformation of thermally responsive hydrogels with lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs), including poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) and poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) (PDEAm). Particularly, benzophenone containing monomers are copolymerized with NIPAm or DEAm to create photocrosslinkable temperature-responsive polymers, which allows fabrication of hydrogels with controlled shapes and crosslinking …

Alpha Radiation Studies And Related Backgrounds In The Darkside-50 Detector, Alissa Monte

Doctoral Dissertations

DarkSide-50 is the current phase of the DarkSide direct dark matter search program, operating underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. The detector is a dual-phase argon Time Projection Chamber (TPC), designed for direct detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), and housed within a veto system of liquid scintillator and water Cherenkov detectors. Since switching to a target of low radioactivity argon extracted from underground sources in April 2015, the background is no longer dominated by naturally occurring 39Ar. However, alpha backgrounds from radon and its daughters remain, both from the liquid argon bulk and internal …

Collider Tests Of Fundamental Symmetries And Neutrino Properties, Haolin Li

Doctoral Dissertations

The CP parity of the Higgs boson and the details of the electroweak symmetry breaking are the two crucial ingredients to understand the matter-antimatter asymmetry in our universe. Electroweak baryogenesis is an intriguing solution to the puzzle of this unexplained observed asymmetry because of its testability at present and near future collider experiments. The possibilities of testing CP phase in the Two-Higgs-Doublets Models (2HDMs) and the generation of a strong first-order electroweak phase transition (SFOEWPT) in the real singlet model at the future high luminosity LHC are studied. In addition to the specific extensions to the Standard Model (SM), I …

Parallel Algorithms For Time Dependent Density Functional Theory In Real-Space And Real-Time, James Kestyn

Doctoral Dissertations

Density functional theory (DFT) and time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) have had great success solving for ground state and excited states properties of molecules, solids and nanostructures. However, these problems are particularly hard to scale. Both the size of the discrete system and the number of needed eigenstates increase with the number of electrons. A complete parallel framework for DFT and TDDFT calculations applied to molecules and nanostructures is presented in this dissertation. This includes the development of custom numerical algorithms for eigenvalue problems and linear systems. New functionality in the FEAST eigenvalue solver presents an additional level of …

Measured Capillary Forces On Spheres At Liquid Interfaces And The Mechanics Of Interfacial Particulate Assemblies, Wei He

Doctoral Dissertations

Particle-laden interfaces have promising potentials in many fields because the particulate nature can endow the surface with physical properties that are not readily obtained from molecular-scale surfactants. In this dissertation, we first focus on measuring capillary forces on particles at fluid interfaces in order to assess the key parameters that yield effective stabilizing particles. In experiment, the force and the displacement of a millimeter-scale particle passing through a liquid interface were recorded. We find that the peak force needed to detach a particle from an interface crowded with other particles is consistently smaller than the force at a clean interface. …

Preparation, Mechanics And Structure Of Sphere Packings Near The Random Loose Packing Limit, Greg Robert Farrell

Doctoral Dissertations

Packings of monodisperse, hard spheres serve as an important model system in the understanding of granular materials which are ubiquitous in nature and industry from sedimented river beds, to construction aggregates, to pharmaceuticals. Unlike frictionless hard spheres which are only stable at densities near the random close packing volume fraction, packings of real spheres form stable packings over a range of volume fractions. We report experimental investigations of sedimented packings of noncohesive polymethyl-methacrylate spheres over a range of volume fractions near the lower limit of this range of volume fractions. We create packings by slow sedimentation in a viscous fluid …

Geometry, Growth And Pattern Formation In Thin Elastic Structures, Salem Al-Mosleh

Doctoral Dissertations

Thin shells are abundant in nature and industry, from atomic to planetary scales. The mechanical behavior of a thin shell depends crucially on its geometry and embedding in 3 dimensions (3D). In fact, the behavior of extremely thin shells becomes scale independent and only depends on geometry. That is why the crumpling of graphene will have similarities to the crumpling of paper. In this thesis, we start by discussing the static behavior of thin shells, highlighting the role of asymptotic curves (curves with zero normal curvature) in determining the possible deformations and in controlling the folding patterns. In particular, we …

Equilibrium Partitioning Of Binary Polymer Mixtures Into Biological Nanopores, Mehmet Alphan Aksoyoglu

Doctoral Dissertations

The cell interior, enclosed by membrane barriers, is a condensed solution of inorganic ions, polymers, carbohydrates, polynucleotides, and a large number of other organic molecules. Within cells, transport of metabolites and biopolymers, such as polynucleotides and proteins, occurs partly through specific transmembrane pores (mesoscopic ion channels) spanning cellular compartments. Examples of such functions are translocation of matrix RNA molecules from cell nucleus through nuclear pore complexes, ejection of viral genome from bacterial virus capsids into host bacterial cells, and translocation of protein factors across toxin channels in biological membranes. All these processes, that occur in the cellular milieu, are mediated …

Computational Modeling Of Defect-Engineered Graphene Derivatives And Graphene-Polymer Nanocomposites, Asanka Weerasinghe

Doctoral Dissertations

Graphene has unique mechanical, electronic, and thermal properties, which enable a broad range of technological applications. For example, graphene flakes can be used as filler to enhance the properties of polymer-matrix nanocomposites and graphene derivatives, generated by defect engineering and chemical functionalization of single-layer graphene, have tunable properties that are very promising for engineering electronic and thermomechanical metamaterials. A fundamental understanding of the structure-property relationships that govern the function of such nanocomposites and graphene derivatives is required for designing and developing future graphene-based metamaterials. Toward this end, we have conducted a systematic study based on extensive molecular-dynamics simulations of mechanical …

Combined Spectroscopic And Scanning Probe Studies Of Electronic Interactions In Nanostructured 1d And 2d Semiconductors, Peijian Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation includes the exploration about the following research questions: 1. What is the correlation between the work function and ground state interactions in organic semiconductor assemblies? 2. How do non-covalent chemical doping tune the work function in MoS₂? 3. Are there surface charges in the Aluminum doped ZnO nanocrystals (AZO) and what's the evolution of the surface charges and polarizabilities from undoped AZO to doped AZO? 4. How is the homogeneity like during doping in the organic thermoelectric materials? The techniques we employed in the research is the spatially registered Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy and Photoluminescence spectroscopy …

Antenna Enhanced Graphene Terahertz Emitter And Detector, And Graphene Microwave Detector, Jiayue Tong

Doctoral Dissertations

Graphene is a promising candidate for optoelectronic and fast electronics research. In THz and sub-THz frequency regime, sensitive detectors are very difficult to make. This dissertation presents my Ph.D study of THz sources and THz/Microwave (MW) detectors made with graphene. My work demonstrates the emission and detection of 1.9 THz radiation from graphene coupled to a double-patch antenna and a silicon lens. More than 3 orders of magnitude performance improvements are achieved in a half-edge-contacted graphene thermoelectric (TE) detector operating at 1.9 THz by antenna coupling and Si lens coupling. The thermoelectric mechanism is also employed in MW detection. A …

Dynamics And Structure Of Polyelectrolyte Complexes, Hamidreza Shojaei-Mahib

Doctoral Dissertations

Interaction of charged macromolecules among themselves and with charged interfaces in salty aqueous medium is a common phenomenon prevalent in biology and synthetic systems. We have addressed several inter-related issues in this general context. First we present a theory of adsorption of polyelectrolytes on the interior and exterior surfaces of a charged spherical vesicle. We derive the critical adsorption condition and the density profile of the polymer in terms of various characteristics of the polymer, vesicle, and the solution, such as the length and charge density of polymer, the radius and charge of the vesicle, the salt concentration of the …

Self-Assembling Networks In Soft Materials, Ishan Prasad

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents a study on heterogeneous network structure in two distinct classes of soft material systems: disordered assemblies of jammed binary spheres and ordered morphologies of block copolymer melts. The aim is to investigate the combined role of geometry and entropy in structure formation of soft matter assemblies. First, we investigate the influence of particle size asymmetry on structural properties of jammed binary sphere mixtures. We give evidence of two distinct classes of materials separated by a critical size ratio that marks the onset of a sharp transition due to simultaneous jamming of a sub-component of the packing. We …

Complex Ground States Of Vortices And Filaments, Qingyou Meng

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two parts. In the first part, we studied the ground state configurations of vortices with multi-scale inter-vortex interactions in layered superconductors. We found that by tuning the multi-scale interaction length, we could create vortex lattice ground states with different symmetries. It has been proposed that these structures can trap ultra-cold atoms for use in quantum emulators. In further work, we measured the phase diagram and discovered many new phases by changing the relative magnitude of the interaction ranges. In the second part, we analyzed the ground state configurations of confined filaments with long-range repulsive interactions. We …

Reduced Models Of Point Vortex Systems In Quasigeostrophic Fluid Dynamics, Jonathan Maack

Doctoral Dissertations

We develop a nonequilibrium statistical mechanical description of the evolution of point vortex systems governed by either the Euler, single-layer quasigeostrophic or two-layer quasigeostrophic equations. Our approach is based on a recently proposed optimal closure procedure for deriving reduced models of Hamiltonian systems. In this theory the statistical evolution is kept within a parametric family of distributions based on the resolved variables chosen to describe the macrostate of the system. The approximate evolution is matched as closely as possible to the true evolution by minimizing the mean-squared residual in the Liouville equation, a metric which quantifies the information loss rate …

First-Principle Approaches To Strongly Correlated Quantum Spin Systems, Yuan Huang

Doctoral Dissertations

My Ph.D. research focuses on the numerical study of two quantum spin systems, one is the square-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet with ring-exchange interaction at the Neel to valence-bond solid state transition, which is proposed to be described by the theory of deconfined criticality; the other is the highly frustrated pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnet. Both systems are known as prototypical candidates for the exotic spin-liquid state with emergent fractionalized excitations and gauge structure. Regarding the long standing controversy of deconfined criticality, our results conclude that the deconfined critical theory capture the essence of the Neel to valence-bond solid state transition at least at …

Emergent Phenomena In Quantum Critical Systems, Kun Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

A quantum critical point (QCP) is a point in the phase diagram of quantum matter where a continuous phase transition takes place at zero temperature. Low-dimensional quantum critical systems are strongly correlated, therefore hosting nontrivial emergent phenomena. In this thesis, we first address two decades-old problems on quantum critical dynamics. We then reveal two novel emergent phenomena of quantum critical impurity problems. In the first part of the thesis, we address the linear response dynamics of the $(2+1)$-dimensional $O(2)$ quantum critical universality class, which can be realized in the ultracold bosonic system near the superfluid (SF) to Mott insulator (MI) …

Modeling Deformation Behavior And Strength Characteristics Of Sand-Silt Mixtures: A Micromechanical Approach, Mehrashk Meidani

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of six chapters. In the first chapter the motivation of this research, which was modeling the deformation behavior and strength characteristics of soils under internal erosion, is briefly explained. In the second chapter a micromechanis-based stress-strain model developed for prediction of sand-silt mixtures behavior is presented. The components of the micromechanics-based model are described and undrained behavior of six different types of sand-silt mixtures is predicted for several samples with different fines contents. The need for a more comprehensive compression model for sand-silt mixtures is identified at the end of this chapter. This desired compression model …

Vibrated Squares As Equilibrium And Active Matter, Lee Askew Walsh

Doctoral Dissertations

We study the effects of particle shape and self-propulsion on the collective behaviors of a two-dimensional granular fluid, using an experimental system of hard square grains. We energize the system by vibration, which, depending on particle shape, induces either isotropic diffusion or persistent self-propulsion in the particles. We use specially designed grains as a model system to study (i) the equilibrium packing of hard squares in two dimensions, (ii) the dynamics of athermal self-propelled particles, and (iii) the melting kinetics of an unconfined granular crystallite. The first study concerns the phase diagram of a two-dimensional fluid of hard squares, which …

Search For Long-Lived, Massive Particles Decaying Into Dimuon Vertices In Pp Collisions At 13 Tev With The Atlas Detector At The Lhc, Nathan Bernard

Doctoral Dissertations

A search for long-lived, massive particles decaying into dimuon pairs, in 32.9 fb^-1 of data analyzed from the ATLAS detector is presented. Two signal models are considered: GGM SUSY, where the long lived particle mass is between 300-1000 GeV, and the dark photon model, where the Z_D mass is between 20-60 GeV. An excess over the predicted background is observed in the GGM channel, however the angular/kinematic distributions of the excess vertices are consistent with a detec- tor/conditions related issue. A modified selection is used for the GGM channel which increases the signal sensitivity. 95% confidence level (CL) …

Nanoporous Carbon Scaffolds For Energy Storage Applications, Waruni Jayawardana

Doctoral Dissertations

"Nanoporous carbons (NCs) have become increasingly popular in various fields of research due to their unique properties including tunable pore sizes, higher pore volumes and higher surface areas, as well as being able to produce controlled nanostructures. The work presented here uses NC scaffolds with as active hosts for (1) Li-ion battery electrodes and (2) confined metal hydrides (MH) for hydrogen storage applications. In (1) we investigate the Li diffusion characteristics in hard carbons (HCs) that are important for electrochemical applications. We develop a novel method named Voltage-Relaxation Galvanostatic Intermittent Titration Technique (VR-GITT). Parameters derived from the fitting of electrochemical …

Functionalized Nanoporous Carbon Scaffolds For Hydrogen Storage Applications, Christopher L. Carr

Doctoral Dissertations

"Recent efforts have demonstrated confinement in porous scaffolds at the nanoscale can alter the hydrogen sorption properties of metal hydrides, though not to an extent feasible for use in onboard hydrogen storage applications, proposing the need for a method allowing further modifications. The work presented here explores how the functionalization of nanoporous carbon scaffold surfaces with heteroatoms can modify the hydrogen sorption properties of confined metal hydrides in relation to non-functionalized scaffolds (FS). Investigations of nanoconfined LiBH₄ and NaAlH₄ indicate functionalizing the carbon scaffold surface with nitrogen can shift the activation energy of hydrogen desorption in excess of …

Disorder At First-Order Classical And Quantum Phase Transitions, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation studies the effects of quenched disorder on classical, quantum and nonequilibrium phase transitions. After a short introduction which covers the basic concepts of phase transitions, finite-size scaling and random disorder, the dissertation focuses on four separate but related projects. First, we investigate the influence of quenched disorder with long-range spatial correlations on the nonequilibrium phase transitions in the contact process. We show that the long-range correlations increase the probability to find rare atypical regions in the sample. This leads to enhanced Griffiths singularities and changes the universality class of the transition.

Project 2 and 3 focus on disorder …

Fully Differential Study Of Dissociative Capture In P + H₂ Collisions, Basu Ram Lamichhane

Doctoral Dissertations

"In recent years, the key role of the projectile coherence properties has been studied in several ion-atom scattering processes. These studies strongly suggested that cross sections could be significantly affected by the projectile coherence properties, especially for fast, heavy ions. In the present study, we used such coherence effects as a tool to sensitively analyze the few- body dynamics of the scattering process. To this end, we performed three kinematically complete experiments on fragmentation of H₂ by 75 keV proton impacts. A novel approach was used to analyze coherence and interference effects in the observed cross-sections. The idea was …

Evolving Specialization In An Agent-Based Model Without Task-Switching Costs, Shane Robert Meyer

Doctoral Dissertations

"This work examines the possibility of evolving the phenotypic specialization associated with division of labor in an agent-based model without task-switching costs. The model examines two groups competing for vital resources, where members of one group are capable of sharing resources with other agents in their group. Agents attempt to collect resources which allow them to reproduce, with more resources leading to a greater number of offspring by asexual reproduction. Four variants of the model are examined, with combinations of one or two resources and the presence of a foraging risk. The presence of the foraging risk can lead to …

Characterization Of The Cylinderical Split Internal-Loop Photobioreactor With Scenedesmus Microalgae: Advanced Culturing, Modeling, And Hydrodynamics, Laith S. Sabri

Doctoral Dissertations

"Microalgae are fast growing photoynthetic microorganisms and it have very wide range of industrial applications such as biofuels and wastewater treatment. These cells can be grown in a wide variety of systems ranging from open culture systems (e.g., ponds) to closed culture systems of photobioreactor (e.g., airlift). The open culture systems exist in the external environment, and hence, are not intrinsically controllable. However, the microalgae production in enclosed photobioreactors faces prohibitively high production costs with special difficulty in reactor design and scale-up. The light availability and utilization efficiency in the photobioreactor in terms of design and scale-up consider as the …

Correlation Between Delay Time And Measured Concentration And Concentration Uncertainty By Neutron Activation Analysis, James Thomas Seman

Doctoral Dissertations

"For the last several decades, it has been apparent that new methods of identifying explosives can help investigators trace their origins. One way to identify an explosive is through the use of taggants: materials added to a product that encodes information about the product such as when it was manufactured.

This research investigates the survivability of a new identification taggant called the Nuclear Barcode that overcomes some of the downfalls that have been identified in prior taggants. The Nuclear Barcode encodes information as a unique combination of concentrations of rare earths (Ho, Eu, Sm, Lu, and Dy) and precious metals …