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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Comparison Of The Vibrational Modes Of Thiolated Gold Nanoparticles Undergoing Core-Conversions Via Raman Spectroscopy, William Gregory Cannella Jr. May 2020

Comparison Of The Vibrational Modes Of Thiolated Gold Nanoparticles Undergoing Core-Conversions Via Raman Spectroscopy, William Gregory Cannella Jr.

Honors Theses

In this project, the vibrational characteristics/vibrational modes are explored via Raman Spectroscopy for thiolated-gold nanoparticles. This class of compounds is also known as gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). They remain of great interest in research areas such as catalysis, gold dependent nanoelectronics, drug delivery, and sensing, due to their unique size-dependent optical, chiroptical, and electronic properties. Vibrational spectroscopy of thiolated gold nanoparticles are oftentimes considered nontrivial as the compounds strongly absorb light in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum, are generally considered weak scatterers, and give off large amounts of fluorescence. This combined with their black appearance, susceptibility to localized heating, …


Characterization Of A Trochoidal Electron Monochromator, Jesse Kruse Mar 2020

Characterization Of A Trochoidal Electron Monochromator, Jesse Kruse

Honors Theses

This thesis presents a quantitative study of a trochoidal electron monochromator and attempts to observe the 2p^53p^2 resonance in neon. A detailed description of the experimental apparatus, including the electron beam system, the vacuum system, and the light analysis system, is presented first. Then, we discuss the theory of how the electron beam is monochromatized, how we measured monochomatization, and how we analyze the light being emitted from the collision cell. The light analysis system is capable of accurately measuring the relative Stokes parameters for any polarization of light, and the electron beam system is capable of producing electron beams …


Quantum Defect Measurements For High Angular Momentum Rydberg States Of Potassium, Abraham Hill Jan 2020

Quantum Defect Measurements For High Angular Momentum Rydberg States Of Potassium, Abraham Hill

Honors Theses

We report measurements of the quantum defect for the f-, g-, and h-states of potassium with principal quantum number n between 26 and 29. Ground state potassium atoms in a magneto-optical trap are excited from the 4s state to the 5p state, then from the 5p state to the ndj state using lasers at 405nm and 980nm, respectively. We then measure the millimeter wave frequencies of the ndj to nl transitions. We extract the quantum defects from these frequency measurements in conjunction with the known d-state quantum defects. Experimental challenges with …