Physics Commons^™

Underwater Acoustic Signal Analysis Toolkit, Kirk Bienvenu Jr

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This project started early in the summer of 2016 when it became evident there was a need for an effective and efficient signal analysis toolkit for the Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center Gulf Ecological Monitoring and Modeling (LADC-GEMM) Research Consortium. LADC-GEMM collected underwater acoustic data in the northern Gulf of Mexico during the summer of 2015 using Environmental Acoustic Recording Systems (EARS) buoys. Much of the visualization of data was handled through short scripts and executed through terminal commands, each time requiring the data to be loaded into memory and parameters to be fed through arguments. The vision was to develop …

Free-Space Measurements Of Dielectrics And Three-Dimensional Periodic Metamaterials, Clifford E. Kintner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the free-space measurements of a periodic metamaterial structure. The metamaterial unit cell consists of two dielectric sheets intersecting at 90 degrees. The dielectric is a polyetherimide-based material 0.001” thick. Each sheet has a copper capacitively-loaded loop (CLL) structure on the front and a cut-wire structure on the back. Foam material is used to support the unit cells. The unit cell repeats 40 times in the x-direction, 58 times in the y-direction and 5 times in the z-direction. The sample measures 12” × 12” × 1” in total. We use a free-space broadband system comprised of a pair …

Design And Simulation Of A Miniature Cylindrical Mirror Auger Electron Energy Analyzer With Secondary Electron Noise Suppression, Jay A. Bieber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the nanoscale metrology industry, there is a need for low-cost instruments, which have the ability to probe the structrure and elemental composition of thin films. This dissertation, describes the research performed to design and simulate a miniature Cylindrical Mirror Analyzer, (CMA), and Auger Electron Spectrometer, (AES). The CMA includes an integrated coaxial thermionic electron source. Electron optics simulations were performed using the Finite Element Method, (FEM), software COMSOL. To address the large Secondary Electron, (SE), noise, inherent in AES spectra, this research also included experiments to create structures in materials, which were intended to suppress SE backgound noise in …

Analyses Of Densely Crosslinked Phenolic Systems Using Low Field Nmr, Jigneshkumar Patel

Doctoral Dissertations

A uniform dispersion of reactants is necessary to achieve a complete reaction involving multi-components, especially for the crosslinking of rigid high-performance materials. In these reactions, miscibility is crucial for curing efficiency. This miscibility is typically enhanced by adding a third component, a plasticizer. For the reaction of the highly crystalline crosslinking agent hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) with a strongly hydrogen-bonded phenol formaldehyde resin, furfural has been traditionally used as the plasticizer. However, the reason for its effectiveness is not clear. In this doctoral thesis work, miscibility and crosslinking efficiency of plasticizers in phenolic curing reactions are studied by thermal analysis and spectroscopic …

Nanowire-Based Light-Emitting Diodes: A New Path Towards High-Speed Visible Light Communication, Mohsen Nami

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

Nano-scale optoelectronic devices have gained significant attention in recent years. Among these devices are semiconductor nanowires, whose dimeters range from 100 to 200 nm. Semiconductor nanowires can be utilized in many different applications including light-emitting diodes and laser diodes. Higher surface to volume ratio makes nanowire-based structures potential candidates for the next generation of photodetectors, sensors, and solar cells. Core-shell light-emitting diodes based on selective-area growth of gallium nitride (GaN) nanowires provide a wide range of advantages. Among these advantages are access to non-polar m-plane sidewalls, higher active region area compared to conventional planar structures, and reduction of threading …

Solar Powered Single-Axis Heliostat Active Solar Tracking Device, Mason Kyle Roberts

Physics

As a means of cooking food, the burning of biomass accounts for over 4 million premature deaths in third world countries (“Household Air Pollution and Health”). The focus of this project was to explore an alternative that could utilize focused sunlight to cook food. A solar tracker was designed to be affixed to a parabolic, reflective, tilted single axis heliostat to follow the sun throughout the day and focus the reflected light to the bottom of a cooking surface. This surface became hot enough to for the preparation of food or boiling/sterilization of water.

A goal for each project was …

Multispectral Identification Array, Zachary D. Eagan

Computer Engineering

The Multispectral Identification Array is a device for taking full image spectroscopy data via the illumination of a subject with sixty-four unique spectra. The array combines images under the illumination spectra to produce an approximate reflectance graph for every pixel in a scene. Acquisition of an entire spectrum allows the array to differentiate objects based on surface material. Spectral graphs produced are highly approximate and should not be used to determine material properties, however the output is sufficiently consistent to allow differentiation and identification of previously sampled subjects. While not sufficiently advanced for use as a replacement to spectroscopy the …

Operating Temperature Of A Solar Thermal Stirling Engine, Spencer Beck

Senior Theses

This paper explores the relationship between the operating temperature and electricity production of a simple heat engine. A Stirling engine was designed and constructed which runs on solar thermal energy collected by a Fresnel lens. The surface area of the solar collector was varied. This manipulated the operating temperature of the Stirling engine in order to measure power output. The mechanical energy from the engine was converted to electricity using a DC motor running in reverse, acting like a generator, in conjunction with an Arduino for data collection. Although adjustments must be made in order to improve the efficiency of …

Are Solar Panels A Viable Power Source For A Green Energy Vehicle?, Mason C. Adams

Senior Theses

A solar cell powered go-kart has been built and tested. The result shows using solar energy alone cannot meet the requirement of running a regular passenger car. This is due to the limited surface area of the passenger car. This thesis also discusses the operating principles of solar panels, the physics of P type and N type semiconductors, and the formation of the PN junction, as well as the solar current. Modifications of an existing go-kart are described in detail in this thesis. Suggestions for making green vehicles are discussed as well.

Investigating Student Learning Of Analog Electronics, Kevin L. Van De Bogart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Instruction in analog electronics is an integral component of many physics and engineering programs, and is typically covered in courses beyond the first year. While extensive research has been conducted on student understanding of introductory electric circuits, to date there has been relatively little research on student learning of analog electronics in either physics or engineering courses. Given the significant overlap in content of courses offered in both disciplines, this study seeks to strengthen the research base on the learning and teaching of electric circuits and analog electronics via a single, coherent investigation spanning both physics and engineering courses.

This …

Characterization Of Coupled Gold Nanoparticles In A Sparsely Populated Square Lattice, Roy Truett French Iii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Metal nanoparticles deposited in regular arrays spaced at optical wavelengths support a resonance due to a coherent coupling between localized surface plasmon mode and lattice diffraction allowing for engineering of tunable devices for use in biological sensors, nanoantennae, and enhanced spectroscopy. Techniques such as electron beam lithography, focused ion beam lithography, nanosphere lithography, and nanoimprint lithography are used for fabrication but are limited by cost, device throughput, and small deposition. Polymer soft lithography and continuous dewetting of particles is a potentially viable alternative showing promise in all of those areas. This thesis developed the fabrication of a refined hydrophilic nanoimprinted …

Novel Methods For The Time-Dependent Maxwell’S Equations And Their Applications, Sidney Shields

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation investigates three different mathematical models based on the time domain Maxwell's equations using three different numerical methods: a Yee scheme using a non-uniform grid, a nodal discontinuous Galerkin (nDG) method, and a newly developed discontinuous Galerkin method named the weak Galerkin (WG) method. The non-uniform Yee scheme is first applied to an electromagnetic metamaterial model. Stability and superconvergence error results are proved for the method, which are then confirmed through numerical results. Additionally, a numerical simulation of backwards wave propagation through a negative-index metamaterial is given using the presented method. Next, the nDG method is used to simulate …

Low Temperature Plasma For The Treatment Of Epithelial Cancer Cells, Soheila Mohades

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Biomedical applications of low temperature plasmas (LTP) may lead to a paradigm shift in treating various diseases by conducting fundamental research on the effects of LTP on cells, tissues, organisms (plants, insects, and microorganisms). This is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary research field that involves engineering, physics, life sciences, and chemistry to find novel solutions for urgent medical needs. Effects of different LTP sources have shown the anti-tumor properties of plasma exposure; however, there are still many unknowns about the interaction of plasma with eukaryotic cells which must be elucidated in order to evaluate the practical potential of plasma in cancer …

Design Of Radio-Frequency Arrays For Ultra-High Field Mri, Ian R O Connell

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is an indispensable, non-invasive diagnostic tool for the assessment of disease and function. As an investigational device, MRI has found routine use in both basic science research and medicine for both human and non-human subjects.

Due to the potential increase in spatial resolution, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and the ability to exploit novel tissue contrasts, the main magnetic field strength of human MRI scanners has steadily increased since inception. Beginning in the early 1980’s, 0.15 T human MRI scanners have steadily risen in main magnetic field strength with ultra-high field (UHF) 8 T MRI systems deemed to …

Picosecond Yb-Doped Fiber Amplifier, Weibin Zhu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to its versatility, rare earth doped fiber amplifier (RDFA) has attracted a lot of researchers worldwide in recent years. Depends on different kinds of rare earth ion, RDFA can be categorized into neodymium doped fiber amplifier (NDFA), erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), thulium doped fiber amplifier (TDFA), and so forth. Among many kinds of RDFA, the ytterbium doped fiber amplifier (YDFA) has received even more interest, especially in high power application, mainly because of its broad gain bandwidth and high conversion efficiency which are due to its relatively simple electronic structure. The purpose of this research is to study …

Thermal And Waveguide Optimization Of Broad Area Quantum Cascade Laser Performance, Matthew Suttinger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Quantum Cascade Lasers are a novel source of coherent infrared light, unique in their tunability over the mid-infrared and terahertz range of frequencies. Advances in bandgap engineering and semiconductor processing techniques in recent years have led to the development of highly efficient quantum cascade lasers capable of room temperature operation. Recent work has demonstrated power scaling with broad area quantum cascade lasers by increasing active region width beyond the standard ~10 ?m. Taking into account thermal effects caused by driving a device with electrical power, an experimentally fitted model is developed to predict the optical power output in both pulsed …

Photothermal Lensing In Mid-Infrared Materials, Justin Cook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A thorough understanding of laser-materials interactions is crucial when designing and building optical systems. An ideal test method would probe both the thermal and optical properties simultaneously for materials under large optical loads where detrimental thermal effects emerge. An interesting class of materials are those used for infrared wavelengths due to their wide spectral transmission windows and large optical nonlinearities. Since coherent sources spanning the mid-wave and long-wave infrared wavelength regions have only become widely available in the past decade, data regarding their thermal and optical responses is lacking in literature. Photothermal Lensing (PTL) technique is an attractive method for …

High Dynamic Range Display Systems, Ruidong Zhu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High contrast ratio (CR) enables a display system to faithfully reproduce the real objects. However, achieving high contrast, especially high ambient contrast (ACR), is a challenging task. In this dissertation, two display systems with high CR are discussed: high ACR augmented reality (AR) display and high dynamic range (HDR) display. For an AR display, we improved its ACR by incorporating a tunable transmittance liquid crystal (LC) film. The film has high tunable transmittance range, fast response time, and is fail-safe. To reduce the weight and size of a display system, we proposed a functional reflective polarizer, which can also help …

Novel Photonic Resonance Arrangements Using Non-Hermitian Exceptional Points, Hossein Hodaei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, non-Hermitian degeneracies also known as exceptional points (EPs) have emerged as a new paradigm for engineering the response of optical systems. EPs can appear in a wide class of open non-Hermitian configurations. Among different types of non-conservative photonic systems, parity-time (PT) symmetric arrangements are of particular interest since they provide an excellent platform to explore the physics of exceptional points. In this work, the intriguing properties of exceptional points are utilized to address two of the long standing challenges in the field of integrated photonics- enforcing single mode lasing in intrinsically multimode cavities and enhancing the sensitivity …

Enhanced Ablation By Femtosecond And Nanoseond Pulses, Haley Kerrigan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Laser ablation of GaAs by a combination of femtosecond and nanosecond pulses is investigated as a means of enhancing material removal by a femtosecond pulse in the filamentation intensity regime. We demonstrate for the first time increased ablation of GaAs by ultrafast laser pulse plasmas augmented by nanosecond pulse radiation from a secondary laser. Material removal during laser ablation is a complex process that occurs via multiple mechanisms over several timescales. Due to different pulse durations, ablation by femtosecond and nanosecond pulses are dominated by different mechanisms. Ablation can be enhanced by optimally combining a femtosecond and nanosecond pulse in …

Laser-Induced Crystallization Mechanisms In Chalcogenide Glass Materials For Advanced Optical Functionality, Laura Sisken

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Glass-ceramics (GC) are promising candidates for gradient refractive index (GRIN) optics. These multi-phase, composite materials also exhibit improved physical properties as compared to the parent base glass resulting from the formation of a secondary crystalline phase(s). Nanocrystal phase formation in a multi-component chalcogenide glass (ChG), (GeSe2-3As2Se3)(1-x)-(PbSe)x glass where x = 0-40 has been investigated, and the role of the starting material morphology has been correlated to the resulting composite's optical properties including refractive index, transmission, dispersion, and thermo-optic coefficient. Optical property evolution was related to the type and amount of the crystal phases formed, since through control of the local …

Advanced Liquid Crystal Displays With Supreme Image Qualities, Haiwei Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Several metrics are commonly used to evaluate the performance of display devices. In this dissertation, we analyze three key parameters: fast response time, wide color gamut, and high contrast ratio, which affect the final perceived image quality. Firstly, we investigate how response time affects the motion blur, and then discover the 2-ms rule. With advanced low-viscosity materials, new operation modes, and backlight modulation technique, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) with an unnoticeable image blur can be realized. Its performance is comparable to an impulse-type display, like cathode ray tube (CRT). Next, we propose two novel backlight configurations to improve an LCD's …

Generation Of High-Flux Attosecond Pulses And Towards Attosecond-Attosecond Pump-Probe Experiments, Yang Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

At present, the energy of a single isolated attosecond pulse is limited to nanojoule levels. As a result, an intense femtosecond pulse has always been used in combination with a weak attosecond pulse in time-resolved experiments. To reach the goal of conducting true attosecond pump-attosecond probe experiments, a high flux laser source has been developed that can potentially deliver microjoule level isolated attosecond pulses in the 50 eV range, and a unique experimental end station has been fabricated and implemented that can provide precision control of the attosecond-attosecond pump-probe pulses. In order to scale up the attosecond flux, a unique …

Design Of A Hydrogen-Filled Hollow-Core Fiber Raman Laser, Yangyang Qin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the design of a Raman fiber laser based on a molecule hydrogen-filled hollow-core fiber with non-touching single ring of capillaries structure. O-hydrogen vibrational frequency shift of 4155 cm-1 and rotational frequency shift of 587 cm-1 were employed to generate Raman scattering from a 1064nm pump source. A thorough exploration was made to show how all Raman fiber laser components made up: gas chamber, hollow-core fibers, windows. The whole process of chamber design, modification and fabrication were demonstrated. Besides, two kinds of anti-resonant hollow-core fibers were studied and tested. The transmission and loss …

System For Metal Coated Fiber Fabrication, Da Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For many specific applications, such as sensors, aerospace, chemical industry, deep-well oil-field industry, metal-coated fiber shows strong abilities to satisfy people's requirement. With in-line coating technology, we are able to coat Aluminum on the fibers. Using electromagnetic induction, we can easily heat an electrically conducting thing such as a metal with the eddy current. This process is defined as Induction heating. And we will melt the Aluminum by this induction heating during drawing the fibers on the tower. Introduce the fiber tower system. The drawing process of in-line technology is formed of the following steps: Position, Melting, Forming into fibers, …

Noise, Stability, And Linewidth Performance Of 10-Ghz Optical Frequency Combs Generated From The Nested Cavity Architecture, Kristina Bagnell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Optical frequency combs with wide mode spacing and low timing jitter are relied upon for both time domain and frequency domain applications. It has been previously demonstrated that surrounding a low-Q semiconductor laser chip with a long external fiber cavity and inserting a high finesse Fabry–Pérot etalon into this cavity can produce a mode-locked laser with the desired high repetition rate and narrow optical mode linewidths which are of benefit to applications like photonic analog-to-digital conversion and astronomical spectrograph calibration. With this nested cavity architecture, the quality factor of the resonator is effectively determined by the product of the individual …

Enhancement Of Bandwidth And Laser Deflection Angle Of Acousto-Optic Deflectors By Dynamic Two-Dimensional Refractive Index Modulation, Tiansi Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Acousto-Optic Deflectors (AODs) are inertialess optical solid state devices that have advantages over conventional mechanically controlled mirror-based deflectors in numerous scientific and industrial applications. These applications include fluorescence microscopy, sensing, variable-focus lens, photolithography and laser materials processing. AODs are currently operated with a single piezoelectric transducer that modulates the refractive index only in one direction. This operating principle limits the performance of AODs to a narrow acoustic bandwidth of the transducer and a small angle of laser deflection governed by the Bragg diffraction. To overcome these two limitations, the operation of AODs with phased array ultrasonic transducers is analyzed in …

Label-Free Raman Imaging To Monitor Breast Tumor Signatures, John Ciubuc

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Methods built on Raman spectroscopy have shown major potential in describing and discriminating between malignant and benign specimens. Accurate, real-time medical diagnosis benefits in substantial improvements through this vibrational optical method. Not only is acquisition of data possible in milliseconds and analysis in minutes, Raman allows concurrent detection and monitoring of all biological components. Besides validating a significant Raman signature distinction between non-tumorigenic (MCF-10A) and tumorigenic (MCF-7) breast epithelial cells, this study reveals a label-free method to assess overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) in tumor cells. EGFR overexpression sires Raman features associated with phosphorylated threonine and serine, and …

Simulation Of Magnetically Confined Inductively Coupled Plasma, Sina Javadpour

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this work, a new parallel coil design was presented to address the need for high density inductively coupled plasmas with enhanced properties and a more uniform and consistent distribution, suitable for large-area material processing. Fluid model simulations of 3D argon inductively coupled plasma (ICP) were performed in COMSOL for the proposed coil and a conventional single cylindrical coil with the same impedance to be used as reference, to compare and evaluate the performance of this new halftoroidal parallel coil design and study its effects on the main variables of the generated plasma. Through different comparisons of the simulations results, …

Filament Wavefront Evolution, Daniel Thul

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Filamentation is a complex process that gives rise to many nonlinear interactions. However, the fundamentals of filament formation and propagation can be explained in terms of two dominant mechanisms: Kerr self-focusing and plasma defocusing. The first to occur, self-focusing, is responsible for an increase in irradiance through beam collapse. This process requires sufficient initial peak power, on the order of gigawatts for near infrared beams in air. Plasma defocusing then arrests the collapse process once the irradiance reaches the ionization threshold of the medium. These two processes balance each other in an extended plasma channel known as a filament. A …