Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Materials Characterization For Microwave Atom Chip Development, Jordan Shields

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis describes research to characterize materials to be implemented on a microwave atom trap chip, which will be able to trap and spatially manipulate atoms using the spin-specific microwave AC Zeeman effect. Potential applications of this research include atom-based interferometry and quantum computing.

Namely, this thesis describes the characterization of the following: (1) the dielectric constant of a well-characterized substrate, Rogers RO4350B, in order to provide proof-of-concept for a method that can be applied to the chip’s substrate, aluminum nitride (AlN), (2) the maximum current that will be able to be applied to the chip, and (3) surface roughness …

Spatial Variability Of Alkali-Metal Polarization, Lauren Vannell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

An experiment was conducted at William & Mary to study how alkali polarization varies spatially in a spherical cell during the process of optical pumping. Similar cells are used to study the neutron via electron scattering from polarized 3He nuclei, and those experiments could be improved if alkali polarization is maximized and uniformly distributed throughout the cell. The results of this experiment indicate that the alkali polarization is non-uniform and more heavily concentrated on the side of the cell facing the pump laser.

Development Of A 780 Nm External Cavity Diode Laser For Rubidium Spectroscopy, Catherine Sturner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis describes the work done to improve an external cavity diode laser. These improvements consisted of constructing an insulated housing to stabilize the temperature of the laser, tuning the proportional-integral-derivative feedback of the temperature controller, achieving resonance frequencies of rubidium, and implementing and optimizing feed-forward scanning of the frequency of the laser. The laser was then successfully used to measure the linewidth of another laser in the laboratory to better understand how that laser could be best used. The knowledge gained in this thesis can also be used to change the frequency of the laser to achieve other resonances …