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Toward A Conceptual Approach To The Coriolis Force: Cataloging Intuitive Knowledge Elements In Intermediate Physics Learners, Jared B. Arnell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In Physics, the topic of the Coriolis force is often confusing and difficult to teach. I conducted a series of interviews with undergraduate physics students to understand how they would use their prior knowledge and personal experiences to interact with and navigate through a new conceptual teaching approach for the Coriolis force. Many students applied their intuitive understanding of balance to interpret and make predictions about the Coriolis force. Some students displayed a strong conviction that rotating objects will naturally get pulled outward, which suggests that this impression may be a useful tool for novice physics learners to use in …

The Cosmic History Of X-Ray Binary Evolution, Woodrow Gilbertson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Chandra Deep Fields provide an extraordinary window into the high-energy history of the cosmos. Observations of non-active galaxies within the deep fields can be leveraged to extract information about the formation and evolution of X-ray binaries (XRBs). Previous studies have suggested that the evolution of XRB luminosity can be expressed a function of physical parameters such as star formation rate, stellar mass, stellar age, and metallicity. The goal of this work is to develop and implement a complete physical parameterization for the luminosity of XRB populations, which can be utilized for a variety of further studies.

Chapter 1 provides …

Quantum Transport And Electric-Field Effects In Layered Topological Semimetals And Magnetic Materials, Arash Fereidouni Ghaleh Minab

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes transport experiments on quantum devices in layered Dirac nodal line topological semimetals and antiferromagnetic materials down to a few layers. We used gate-induced effects to alter the transport properties of these materials.

First, we introduced current annealing in topological semimetals to achieve high-quality devices. We demonstrate current annealing to substantially improve the electronic transport properties of 2D topological semimetal flakes. Contact resistance and resistivity were improved by factors up to 2,000,000 and 20,000, respectively, in devices based on exfoliated flakes of two topological semimetals, ZrSiSe and BaMnSb2. Using this method, carrier mobility in ZrSiSe improved by a …

Study Of Single-Photon Wave-Packets With Atomically Thin Nonlinear Mirrors, Christopher Klenke

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A novel controlled phase gate for photonic quantum computing is proposed by exploiting the powerful nonlinear optical responses of atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and it is shown that such a gate could elicit a π-rad phase shift in the outgoing electric field only in the case of two incident photons and no other cases. Firstly, the motivation for such a gate is developed and then the implementation of monolayer TMDs is presented as a solution to previous realization challenges. The single-mode case of incident photons upon a TMD is derived and is then used to constrain the more …

Design And Fabrication Of An Apparatus For Tao High-Resolution Laser Spectroscopy, Timothy Chung

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this study, an apparatus for the high-resolution laser spectroscopy of molecules is designed and constructed. The apparatus is used to identify TaO transitions, but may be used for any other molecular species in the future. It will also later be used for experiments such as quantum logic spectroscopy, which are enabled by attachable chambers that can be supplied with molecules from the apparatus. Several considerations are made to improve the quality and longevity of the apparatus such as regulating the rovibrational states of the produced molecules, optimizing the linewidth of the ionization lasers, reducing noise from sources such as …

Revealing The Role Of Electrostatics In Molecular Recognition, Ion Binding And Ph-Dependent Phenomena, Mihiri Hewa Bosthanthirige

All Dissertations

In this dissertation, we study the role of electrostatics in molecular recognition, ion binding and pH-dependent phenomena. In this work that includes three different research projects, the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) model is used to describe the biological system and Delphi (which is a popular tool for solving the PB equation (PBE)) to study the electrostatics of biomolecular systems.

Chapter two aims to investigate the role of electrostatic forces in molecular recognition. We calculated electrostatic forces between binding partners separated at various distances. To accomplish this goal, we developed a method to find an appropriate direction to move one chain of protein …

Electrical And Optical Characterization Of Two-Dimensional Semiconductors Using Ultrafast Spectroscopy, Pan Adhikari

All Dissertations

The emergence of two-dimensional (2D) layered materials provides unprecedented opportunities for studying excitonic physics due to the strong Coulomb interaction between the electron-hole pair. Because of the reduced dimensionality and weak dielectric screening, the exciton is stable at room temperature, unlike bulk semiconductors. The evolution from low to high carrier density for optical gain in 2D semiconductors involves insulating exciton gas, exciton condensation, co-existence of various excitonic complexes, electron-hole plasmas (EHPs), or electron-hole liquids (EHLs), leading to the Mott transition. Strong interaction among the excitons, such as exciton-exciton annihilation (EEA), serves as a hot-carrier generation. A bound exciton dissociates into …

Controlled Manipulation Of Droplets On Fibers: Fundamentals And Printing Applications, Yueming Sun

All Dissertations

In this dissertation, the drop interactions with a single fiber is discussed under an application angle for the development on new Drop-on-Demand (DOD) printhead using a fiber-in-a-tube platform[1] to print highly viscous materials[2]. To control the drop formation and manipulation on fiber, one needs to know how the fiber wetting properties and the fiber diameter influence drop formation. And then, one needs to know the effects of fiber movement in the device on drop formation. These two questions constitute the main theme of this dissertation.

Before this study, it was accepted that the liquids could not form axisymmetric droplets if …

Study Of Thermoelectric And Lattice Dynamics Properties Of 2d Layered Mx (M = Sn, Pb; X = S, Se, Te) And Zrs2 Compounds Using First-Principles Approach, Abhiyan Pandit

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is the investigation of thermoelectric and lattice dynamics properties of two-dimensional (2D) MX (M = Sn, Pb; X = S, Se, Te) and ZrS2 compounds based on the first-principles density functional theory. The dimensionality reduction (e.g., using 2D structure) of bulk materials is found to have enhanced thermoelectric efficiency. This enhancement is attributed to the increase of the Seebeck coefficient as a result of higher electronic density of states near the Fermi level in low-dimensional materials. In addition, lowering the dimensionality increases phonon scattering near interfaces and surfaces in 2D materials, which leads to a …

Using Coherence And Interference To Study The Few Body Dynamics In Simple Atomic Collisions Systems, Sujan Bastola

Doctoral Dissertations

"Atomic Collision experiments are best suited to sensitively test the few-body dynamics of simple systems. The few-body dynamics, in turn, can be sensitively affected by interference effects. However, an important requirement to observe interference effects in atomic scattering experiments is that the incoming projectile beam must be coherent. The coherence properties of the incoming projectile can be controlled by the geometry of the collimating slit placed before the target. We performed a kinematically complete experiment where a 75 keV proton beam is crossed with a molecular hydrogen beam to study the dissociative capture process. The motivation for this project was …

Two-Path Interference In Resonance-Enhanced Few-Photon Ionization Of Li Atoms, B. P. Acharya, S. Dubey, K. L. Romans, A. H.N.C. De Silva, K. Foster, O. Russ, K. Bartschat, N. Douguet, Daniel Fischer

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We investigate the resonance-enhanced few-photon ionization of atomic lithium by linearly polarized light whose frequency is tuned near the 2s-2p transition. Considering the direction of light polarization orthogonal to the quantization axis, the process can be viewed as an atomic "double-slit experiment "where the 2p states with magnetic quantum numbers mℓ=±1 act as the slits. In our experiment, we can virtually close one of the two slits by preparing lithium in one of the two circularly polarized 2p states before subjecting it to the ionizing radiation. This allows us to extract the interference term between the two pathways and obtain …

Study Of The Very High Energy Emission Of M87 Through Its Broadband Spectral Energy Distribution, R. Alfaro, C. Alvarez, J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez, D. Avila Rojas, H. A. Ayala Solares, E. Belmont-Moreno, T. Capistrán, A. Carramiñana, S. Casanova, U. Cotti, J. Cotzomi, S. Coutiño De León, E. De La Fuente, C. De León, R. Diaz Hernandez, M. A. Duvernois, M. Durocher, J. C. Díaz-Vélez, C. Espinoza, K. L. Fan, M. Fernandez Alonso, N. Fraija, J. A. Garcia-Gonzalez, F. Garfias, M. M. Gonzalez, J. A. Goodman, J. P. Harding, G. Huang, F. Hueyotl-Zahuantitla, P. Huntemeyer, V. Joshi, H. Leon Vargas, J. T. Linnemann, A. L. Longinotti, G. Luis-Raya, K. Malone, O. Martinez, J. Martinez-Castro, J. A. Matthews, P. Miranda-Romagnoli, E. Moreno, M. Mostafa, A. Nayerhoda, L. Nellen, R. Noriega-Papaqui, N. Omodei, A. Peisker, E. G. Perez-Perez, C. D. Rho, D. Rosa-Gonzalez, H. Salazar, D. Salazar-Gallegos, F. Salesa Greus, A. Sandoval, J. Serna-Franco, Y. Son, R. W. Springer, O. Tibolla, K. Tollefson, I. Torres, F- Urena-Mena, L. Villasenor, Xiaojie Wang, E. Willox, A. Zepeda

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

The radio galaxy M87 is the central dominant galaxy of the Virgo Cluster. Very high-energy (VHE, ≳0.1 TeV) emission from M87 has been detected by imaging air Cherenkov telescopes. Recently, marginal evidence for VHE long-term emission has also been observed by the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory, a gamma-ray and cosmic-ray detector array located in Puebla, Mexico. The mechanism that produces VHE emission in M87 remains unclear. This emission originates in its prominent jet, which has been spatially resolved from radio to X-rays. In this paper, we construct a spectral energy distribution from radio to gamma rays that is representative of …

Development Of High Quantum Efficiency Strained Superlattice Spin Polarized Photocathodes Via Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition, Benjamin Belfore

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Spin polarized photocathodes are necessary to examine parity violations and other fundamental phenomena in the field of high energy physics. To create these devices, expensive and complicated growth processes are necessary. While integral to accelerator physics, spin polarized electrons could have other exciting applications in materials science and other fields of physics. In order to explore these other applications feasibly, the relative supply of spin polarized photocathodes with a high rate of both polarization and photoemission needs to be increased. One such way to increase this supply is to develop the means to grow them faster and at a larger …

Quantum Computing Simulation Of The Hydrogen Molecule System With Rigorous Quantum Circuit Derivations, Yili Zhang

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Quantum computing has been an emerging technology in the past few decades. It utilizes the power of programmable quantum devices to perform computation, which can solve complex problems in a feasible time that is impossible with classical computers. Simulating quantum chemical systems using quantum computers is one of the most active research fields in quantum computing. However, due to the novelty of the technology and concept, most materials in the literature are not accessible for newbies in the field and sometimes can cause ambiguity for practitioners due to missing details.

This report provides a rigorous derivation of simulating quantum chemistry …

Analysis Of Temperature Dependence Of Surface Roughness Of Gold Film On Mos2, Joshua Wolff, Jeff Carlson, Timothy E. Kidd Ph.D.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

We have developed a method to control the surface roughness of ultrathin Au surfaces on MoS₂ crystals through the use of annealing. Through this method, we are now able to utilize Au surfaces for a variety of research, such as research on self-assembled monolayers (SAM) as well as with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).

Ultra-Flat Au Surfaces On Finite Layer Mos2, Jeff Carlson, Timothy E. Kidd Ph.D., Andrew J. Stollenwerk Ph.D.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

We have developed a method for creating ultra-flat Au surfaces by sputtering Au onto thin films of MoS₂. This method is more cost effective than current technologies. Our Au surfaces are subatomically flat over relatively large areas making them useful for self assembled monolayer (SAM) research.

A Lite Daq System For Precision Resistance Measurements, Nathan Schmidt, Timothy E. Kidd Ph.D.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Data acquisition (DAQ) systems are frequently utilized in lab settings. Basic DAQ systems are a common occurrence in lab courses for this reason. Commonly, however, the DAQ systems utilized in such courses are proprietary, and do not allow students to understand how they operate beyond a “plug in and go” nature as a result. A further consequence is that these systems are not capable of being programmed, such as is often done with equipment used in professional labs. The DAQ systems used in lab courses aren’t easily replaced by the test equipment they seek to emulate due to cost. Ideally, …

61st Annual Rocky Mountain Conference On Magnetic Resonance

Rocky Mountain Conference on Magnetic Resonance

Final program, abstracts, and information about the 61st annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Conference on Magnetic Resonance, co-endorsed by the Colorado Section of the American Chemical Society and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. Held in Copper Mountain, Colorado, July 25-29, 2022.

Resonant Energy Exchange In Ultracold Rydberg Atoms, Samantha Grubb, Alan Okinaka

Physics and Astronomy Summer Fellows

Ultracold Rydberg atoms serve as good systems in which resonant dipole-dipole interactions can be observed. The goal of our work is to design a simulation in which energy exchange among many nearly evenly spaced energy levels is observed. These observations are useful for understanding the time evolution of complicated quantum systems, and have applications in quantum computing and simulating. We are utilizing a supercomputer to run our simulation as well as studying the system experimentally. Once we obtain simulated results, we plan to compare them with the results obtained in a lab.

Weakness Of Weak Values: Incompatibility Of Anomalous Pulse-Spectrum Amplification And Optical Frequency Combs, John C. Howell

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We probe the use of optical frequency combs to place lower bounds on anomalous amplification of a weak-value-measured pulse delay, potentially reaching a theoretical temporal resolution of better than 10⁻³⁴ s. Owing to the interferometric behavior of weak values, we show that anomalous weak value amplification of a time delay is not equivalent to a temporal linear phase ramp. We show that the anomalous weak value is a rearrangement of amplitudes that generates an apparent shift that can be measured in direct detection, but does not change the actual frequency offset of a spectral distribution measurable in coherent detection. …

Majorana Bound States With Chiral Magnetic Textures, Utkan Güngördü, Alexey Kovalev

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

The aim of this Tutorial is to give a pedagogical introduction into realizations of Majorana fermions, usually termed as Majorana bound states (MBSs), in condensed matter systems with magnetic textures. We begin by considering the Kitaev chain model of “spinless” fermions and show how two “half” fermions can appear at chain ends due to interactions. By considering this model and its two-dimensional generalization, we emphasize intricate relation between topological superconductivity and possible realizations of MBS. We further discuss how “spinless” fermions can be realized in more physical systems, e.g., by employing the spin-momentum locking. Next, we demonstrate how magnetic textures …

Majorana Bound States With Chiral Magnetic Textures, Utkan Güngördü, Alexey Kovalev

Alexey Kovalev Papers

The aim of this Tutorial is to give a pedagogical introduction into realizations of Majorana fermions, usually termed as Majorana bound states (MBSs), in condensed matter systems with magnetic textures. We begin by considering the Kitaev chain model of “spinless” fermions and show how two “half” fermions can appear at chain ends due to interactions. By considering this model and its two-dimensional generalization, we emphasize intricate relation between topological superconductivity and possible realizations of MBS. We further discuss how “spinless” fermions can be realized in more physical systems, e.g., by employing the spin-momentum locking. Next, we demonstrate how magnetic textures …

Unidirectionally Excited Phonon Polaritons In High-Symmetry Orthorhombic Crystals, Qing Zhang, Qingdong Ou, Guangyuan Si, Guangwei Hu, Shaohua Dong, Yang Chen, Jincheng Ni, Chen Zhao, Michael S. Fuhrer, Yuanjie Yang, Andrea Alù, Rainer Hillenbrand, Cheng-Wei Qiu

Advanced Science Research Center

Advanced control over the excitation of ultraconfined polaritons—hybrid light and matter waves—empowers unique opportunities for many nanophotonic functionalities, e.g., on-chip circuits, quantum information processing, and controlling thermal radiation. Recent work has shown that highly asymmetric polaritons are directly governed by asymmetries in crystal structures. Here, we experimentally demonstrate extremely asymmetric and unidirectional phonon polariton (PhP) excitation via directly patterning high-symmetry orthorhombic van der Waals (vdW) crystal α-MoO3. This phenomenon results from symmetry breaking of momentum matching in polaritonic diffraction in vdW materials. We show that the propagation of PhPs can be versatile and robustly tailored via structural engineering, while PhPs …

X-Ray Diffraction And Structural Analysis Of Shark Vertebrae, Kathryn Griggs

DePaul Discoveries

Just like how rings correspond to the growth record of trees, some mineralized tissues of mammals contain temporal sequences of tissue development [Klevezal, 1996]. Shark vertebrae consist of cartilage mineralized with hydroxyapatite (HA). A recent study of vertebrae of seven shark species found that this tissue material stiffness and strength are similar to those of mammalian trabecular bone [Porter, 2006]. The periodic array of atoms in the HA nanocrystals in shark vertebrae produce peaks of diffracted intensity. The present project studied thousands of x-ray diffraction patterns of shark vertebrae collected at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory. …

Spin-Neutral Tunneling Anomalous Hall Effect, Ding-Fu Shao, Shu-Hui Zhang, Rui-Chun Xiao, Zi-An Wang, W. J. Lu, Y. P. Sun, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Anomalous Hall effect (AHE) is a fundamental spin-dependent transport property that is widely used in spintronics. It is generally expected that currents carrying net spin polarization are required to drive the AHE. Here we demonstrate that, in contrast to this common expectation, a spin-neutral tunneling AHE (TAHE), i.e. a TAHE driven by spin-neutral currents, can be realized in an antiferromagnetic (AFM) tunnel junction where an AFM electrode with a non-spin-degenerate Fermi surface and a normal metal electrode are separated by a non-magnetic barrier with strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC). The symmetry mismatch between the AFM electrode and the SOC barrier results …

On Superoscillations And Supershifts In Several Variables, Yakir Aharonov, Fabrizio Colombo, Andrew N. Jordan, Irene Sabadini, Tomer Shushi, Daniele C. Struppa, Jeff Tollaksen

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The aim of this paper is to study a class of superoscillatory functions in several variables, removing some restrictions on the functions that we introduced in a previous paper. Since the tools that we used with our approach are not common knowledge we will give detailed proof for the case of two variables. The results proved for superoscillatory functions in several variables can be further extended to supershifts in several variables.

A Simple Parameterization To Enhance The Computational Time In The Three Layer Dry Deposition Model For Smooth Surfaces, Omar M.M. Nofal, Omar Al-Jaghbeer, Zaid Bakri, Tareq Hussein

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Optimization of dry deposition velocity calculation has been of great interest. Every time, determining the value of the concentration boundary layer (CBL) thickness led to a waste of numerical calculation time, which appears as a huge time in large-scale climate models. The goal of this study is to optimize the numerical calculation time in the three-layer deposition model for smooth surfaces through the development of a MATLAB code that can parameterize the appropriate concentration boundary layer height (y+cbl) and internal integral calculation intervals for each particle diameter Dp (0.01–100 µm) and friction velocity u* (0.01–100 m/s). The particle concentration, as …

Monitoring Fast Superconducting Qubit Dynamics Using A Neural Network, G. Koolstra, N. Stevenson, S. Barzili, L. Burns, K. Siva, S. Greenfield, W. Livingston, A. Hashim, R. K. Naik, J. M. Kreikebaum, K. P. O'Brien, D. I. Santiago, Justin Dressel, I. Siddiqi

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Weak measurements of a superconducting qubit produce noisy voltage signals that are weakly correlated with the qubit state. To recover individual quantum trajectories from these noisy signals, traditional methods require slow qubit dynamics and substantial prior information in the form of calibration experiments. Monitoring rapid qubit dynamics, e.g., during quantum gates, requires more complicated methods with increased demand for prior information. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an alternative method for accurately tracking rapidly driven superconducting qubit trajectories that uses a long short-term memory (LSTM) artificial neural network with minimal prior information. Despite few training assumptions, the LSTM produces trajectories that include …

Phase Transitions And Resilience Of The Magnetic Dual Chiral Density Wave Phase At Finite Temperature And Density, William Gyory, Vivian De La Incera

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We study the phase transitions at finite temperature and density of the magnetic dual chiral density wave (MDCDW) phase. This spatially inhomogeneous phase emerges in cold, dense QCD in the presence of a strong magnetic field. Starting from the generalized Ginzburg-Landau (GL) expansion of the free energy, we derive several analytical formulas that enable fast numerical computation of the expansion coefficients to arbitrary order, allowing high levels of precision in the determination of the physical dynamical parameters, as well as in the transition curves in the temperature vs chemical potential plane at different magnetic fields. At magnetic fields and temperatures …

Computational Models To Detect Radiation In Urban Environments: An Application Of Signal Processing Techniques And Neural Networks To Radiation Data Analysis, Jose Nicolas Gachancipa

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

Radioactive sources, such as uranium-235, are nuclides that emit ionizing radiation, and which can be used to build nuclear weapons. In public areas, the presence of a radioactive nuclide can present a risk to the population, and therefore, it is imperative that threats are identified by radiological search and response teams in a timely and effective manner. In urban environments, such as densely populated cities, radioactive sources may be more difficult to detect, since background radiation produced by surrounding objects and structures (e.g., buildings, cars) can hinder the effective detection of unnatural radioactive material. This article presents a computational model …