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Brigham Young University

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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Trumpet Directivity From A Rotating Semicircular Array, Samuel D. Bellows, Joseph E. Avila, Timothy W. Leishman Sep 2023

Trumpet Directivity From A Rotating Semicircular Array, Samuel D. Bellows, Joseph E. Avila, Timothy W. Leishman

Directivity

The directivity function of a played musical instrument describes the angular dependence of its acoustic radiation and diffraction about the instrument, musician, and musician’s chair. Directivity influences sound in rehearsal, performance, and recording environments and signals in audio systems. Because high-resolution, spherically comprehensive measurements of played musical instruments have been unavailable in the past, the authors have undertaken research to produce and share such data for studies of musical instruments, simulations of acoustical environments, optimizations of microphone placements, and other applications. The authors acquired the data from repeated chromatic scales produced by a trumpet played at mezzo-forte in an anechoic …


Gamelan Gong Directivity Dataset, Samuel D. Bellows, Dallin T. Harwood, Kent L. Gee, Micah R. Shepherd Jan 2023

Gamelan Gong Directivity Dataset, Samuel D. Bellows, Dallin T. Harwood, Kent L. Gee, Micah R. Shepherd

Directivity

No abstract provided.


Kemar Hats Head Orientation Directivity, Samuel D. Bellows, Timothy W. Leishman Mar 2022

Kemar Hats Head Orientation Directivity, Samuel D. Bellows, Timothy W. Leishman

Directivity

This directivity data set for a KEMAR head head-and-torso simulator (HATS) includes head orientations in 14 directions in 5° steps starting from 0° to 40° and then in 10° steps from 40° to 90°. The full spherical measurements followed at an a = 0.97 m radius with the mouth aperture at the spherical center. The sampling density and distribution followed the AES 5° dual-equiangular sampling standard, omitting the south pole (θ = 180°). Thus, each spherical directivity assessment included 36 polar-angle θ samples and 72 azimuthal-angle ϕ samples. The presented data include 22 1/3-octave bands, ranging from 80 Hz …


Average Speech Directivity, Samuel D. Bellows, Claire M. Pincock, Jennifer K. Whiting, Timothy W. Leishman Nov 2019

Average Speech Directivity, Samuel D. Bellows, Claire M. Pincock, Jennifer K. Whiting, Timothy W. Leishman

Directivity

Speech directivity describes the angular dependence of acoustic radiation from a talker’s mouth and nostrils and diffraction about his or her body and chair (if seated). It is an essential physical aspect of communication affecting sounds and signals in acoustical environments, audio, and telecommunication systems. Because high-resolution, spherically comprehensive measurements of live, phonetically balanced speech have been unavailable in the past, the authors have undertaken research to produce and share such data for simulations of acoustical environments, optimizations of microphone placements, speech studies, and other applications. The measurements included three male and three female talkers who repeated phonetically balanced passages …


Y2O3 Optical Constants Between 5 Nm And 50 Nm, Joseph B. Muhlestein, Benjamin D. Smith, Margaret Miles, Stephanie M. Thomas, Anthony Willey, David D. Allred, R. Steven Turley Jan 2019

Y2O3 Optical Constants Between 5 Nm And 50 Nm, Joseph B. Muhlestein, Benjamin D. Smith, Margaret Miles, Stephanie M. Thomas, Anthony Willey, David D. Allred, R. Steven Turley

Faculty Publications

We report optical constants of e-beam evaporated yttrium oxide Y2O3 thin films as determined from angle-dependent reflectance measurements at wavelengths from 5 to 50 nm. Samples were measured using synchrotron radiation at the Advanced Light Source. The experimental reflectance data were fit to obtain values for the index of refraction and thin film roughness. We compare our computed constants with those of previous researchers and those computed using the independent atom approximation from the CXRO website. We found that the index of refraction near 36 nm is much lower than previous data from Tomiki as reported by …


Linear Least Squares Curve Fitting, R. Steven Turley Sep 2018

Linear Least Squares Curve Fitting, R. Steven Turley

Faculty Publications

This article is a review of the theory and practice behind linear least squares curve fitting. It outlines how to find the optimal parameters to match experimental data with theory and how to estimate the uncertainty in those parameters. The article demonstrates and validates these calculations in Excel, MATLAB, Mathematica, Python, and Julia.


Cubic Interpolation With Irregularly-Spaced Points In Julia 1.4, R. Steven Turley Aug 2018

Cubic Interpolation With Irregularly-Spaced Points In Julia 1.4, R. Steven Turley

Faculty Publications

This article shows how to interpolate between regularly- or irregularly-spaced points in Julia 1.4. It has derivations of the theory behind cubic splines, and piece-wise cubic hermite polynomial interpolation. The spline interpolants are continuous and have continuous first and second derivatives. The hermite polynomial interpolants are continuous and have continuous first derivatives. Three techniques are implemented to determine the slope at the data points for the interpolation (knots). One uses the average slope of the neighboring segments. Another use the quadratic polynomial passing through the point and its two neighbors. The third, PCHIP, is similar to the first method, but …


Fitting Als Reflectance Data Using Python, R. Steven Turley Apr 2018

Fitting Als Reflectance Data Using Python, R. Steven Turley

Faculty Publications

This article describes how to use the python refl library in https://bitbucket.org/steve_turley/reflectance-fitting to fit thin film reflectance data from the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. It uses data taken for a thin film of aluminum capped by a thin film of aluminum fluoride on a silicon nitride substrate. The single fit in the example shown here shows the importance of taking into account the oxidation of the aluminum layer as part of the fit.


Bare Aluminum Oxidation, R. Steven Turley Nov 2017

Bare Aluminum Oxidation, R. Steven Turley

Faculty Publications

This paper computes the oxidation rate of bare evaporated aluminum thin films under high vacuum conditions and exposed to air.


Exploring The Solvability Of The Jaynes-Cummings And Jaynes-Cummings-Like Models: Implementing Quantum Control, Austen Couvertier Aug 2017

Exploring The Solvability Of The Jaynes-Cummings And Jaynes-Cummings-Like Models: Implementing Quantum Control, Austen Couvertier

Student Works

In this paper we aim to explore the dynamics and overall solvability of the Jaynes-Cummings \& Jaynes-Cummings-Like models. As a lens to understand these dynamics, we focused on cases where the parameters of the system were made time-dependent. All previous work on solving the dynamics of the Jaynes-Cummings models has relied heavily on the use of differential methods and setting the parameters as time-independent constants which were zero or one. To account for this, we utilized the Wei-Norman method which allowed us to analytical solve the time-dependent Hamiltonian. Through the use of this method, we can understand the more general …


An Exploration Of Crum’S And Algebraic Crum Detection, Shae Machlus, Branton Campbell Aug 2017

An Exploration Of Crum’S And Algebraic Crum Detection, Shae Machlus, Branton Campbell

Student Works

  1. The cooperative rigid unit modes (CRUM's) of cubic perovskite were investigated at non-special k-points using ISODISTORT and Shared Shifts Mathematica code. CRUM's were generated by the T4 irrep on the T line which confirms previously published results.
  2. The solution space of the MtM CRUM detection method was determined and compared to that of the M method. Analysis by example and by theory showed the solution spaces of both methods are identical. MtM was realized to be effectively M with a lower tolerance. An improved row reduction routine is being developed that uses an adaptable ratio-driven tolerance instead of …


Reflectance Of Xuv Light On A Two Dimensional Conducting Rough Surface, Chelsea Thangavelu Aug 2017

Reflectance Of Xuv Light On A Two Dimensional Conducting Rough Surface, Chelsea Thangavelu

Student Works

A Fortran program is set up to solve for the reflectance of XUV light from a rough two dimensional surface, resembling experimental mirrors used to reflect XUV light. Because the roughness of the surface is on the order of magnitude of the wavelength of XUV light, our approach requires a Greene's Function instead of using traditional geometrical optics or physical optics. Our Fortran program calculates the impedance (Z) matrix which requires integration over Greene's Function at non-singular points. The Z matrix helps solve for the induced surface current J(x') at non-singular points. At singular points, the program implements a series …


Developing A Location Detector Using Acoustical Energy Quantities, Jacey Young Aug 2017

Developing A Location Detector Using Acoustical Energy Quantities, Jacey Young

Student Works

In this paper, development through the use of LabVIEW for an acoustical energy quantity detector is discussed. This detector uses the quantity of sound intensity to locate the direction of a sound source in three dimensional space with relation to the center of a spherical microphone probe placed directly under a web camera. The direction and the magnitude of the sound intensity are then used to generate an arrow pointing in the direction of the sound source and position it on top the web camera's image of the surrounding area. These quantities are then also used to highlight an area …


Circular Integration Region, R. Steven Turley Aug 2017

Circular Integration Region, R. Steven Turley

Faculty Publications

This report explains how to transform a singular integration over the an arc of a circle into an integration over a unit square using various coordinate transformations include a Duffy transformation. Fortran code illustrating the algorithms is included along with unit test validations.


2d Surface Creation Using Intel Mkl, R. Steven Turley Aug 2017

2d Surface Creation Using Intel Mkl, R. Steven Turley

Faculty Publications

This document illustrates how to use the Intel Math Kernel Library (MKL) to create surfaces with a given cut-off spatial frequency and rms surface height. They closely mimic typical surfaces our group has measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM).


Using Page Method In The Two Point Method To Determine Sound Power, Christopher Reynolds Aug 2017

Using Page Method In The Two Point Method To Determine Sound Power, Christopher Reynolds

Student Works

Sound power is the energy emitted by a sound source per unit time. It is commonly used by industries to determine the noise (unwanted sound) of machinery. There are multiple recognized standards for determining the sound power of a source. The requirements for the ISO3741 standard are tedious and strict but can produce a low standard of deviation in the results. There is another method, the Two Point method, which less strict than the standards but the standard of deviation in the results vary. This paper discusses the performance of the PAGE method employed in the Two Point method to …


Magnetic Domain Morphology In [Co(4a)/Pt(7a] Thin Film, Jeremy Metzner Aug 2017

Magnetic Domain Morphology In [Co(4a)/Pt(7a] Thin Film, Jeremy Metzner

Student Works

A collection of results for multi-layered thin films and their magnetic domains.


Three Ways To Stabilize An Injection Lock, Ethan Welch, Dallin Durfee, Jarom Jackson Aug 2017

Three Ways To Stabilize An Injection Lock, Ethan Welch, Dallin Durfee, Jarom Jackson

Student Works

An injection locked laser can jump out of lock if its current or temperature drifts. By monitoring the spectra or the amplitude of the injection locked laser, we have been able to detect drifts and apply feedback to prevent injection lock from breaking.


Quantum Dot Band Gap Investigations, John Ryan Peterson Nov 2016

Quantum Dot Band Gap Investigations, John Ryan Peterson

Student Works

Improving solar panel efficiency has become increasingly important as the world searches for cheap renewable energy. Recent developments in the industry have focused on multi-layer cells, some of which use semiconducting dyes to absorb light in place of crystalline solids. In this paper, I characterize various dyes recently synthesized for use in solar panels. These dyes contain semiconducting nanoparticles enclosed primarily by the protein ferritin to limit particle size. The band gaps were measured using either optical absorption spectroscopy or measuring the photoluminescence spectrum, depending on the type of semiconductor. The results indicate that both manganese oxide and lead sulfide …


Measurement Of The Yb I 1S0-1P1 Transition Frequency At 399 Nm Using An Optical Frequency Comb, Michaela Kleinert, M. E. Gold Dahl, Scott D. Bergeson Jan 2016

Measurement Of The Yb I 1S0-1P1 Transition Frequency At 399 Nm Using An Optical Frequency Comb, Michaela Kleinert, M. E. Gold Dahl, Scott D. Bergeson

Faculty Publications

We determine the frequency of the Yb I 1S0-1P1 transition at 399 nm using an optical frequency comb. Although this transition was measured previously using an optical transfer cavity [D. Das et al., Phys, Rev. A 72, 032506 (2005)], recent work has uncovered significant errors in that method. We compare our result of 751 526 533.49 ± 0.33 MHz for the 174Yb isotope with those from the literature and discuss observed differences. We verify the correctness of our method by measuring the frequencies of well-known transitions in Rb and Cs, and by …


Improving Production Of Carbon Nanotube Composites, Dan Broadbent Aug 2015

Improving Production Of Carbon Nanotube Composites, Dan Broadbent

Faculty Publications

Carbon nanotube (CNT) composites offer great promise for making lighter, thinner and stronger structures. Producing CNT composites, however, can be tricky. The focus of this work is to improve production yields of CNT composites by doing research and development in two areas:

  • Research the relationship between ethylene gas concentrations used during CNT growth and yields of usable composite films produced.
  • Develop furnace for growing larger CNT samples, which will enable larger sizes and quantities of research product.


Using Higher Ionization States To Increase Coulomb Coupling In An Ultracold Neutral Plasma, M. Lyon, Scott D. Bergeson, A. Diaw, M. S. Murillo Jan 2015

Using Higher Ionization States To Increase Coulomb Coupling In An Ultracold Neutral Plasma, M. Lyon, Scott D. Bergeson, A. Diaw, M. S. Murillo

Faculty Publications

We report measurements and simulations of the time-evolving rms velocity distribution in an ultracold neutral plasma. A strongly coupled ultracold neutral Ca+ plasma is generated by photoionizing laser-cooled atoms close to threshold. A fraction of these ions is then promoted to the second ionization state to form a mixed Ca+-Ca2+ plasma. By varying the time delay between the first and the second ionization events, a minimum in ion heating is achieved. We show that the Coulomb strong-coupling parameter Γ increases by a factor of 1.4 to a maximum value of 3.6. A pure Ca2+ plasma …


Instrument For Precision Long-Term Ss-Decay Rate Measurements, M. J. Ware, Scott D. Bergeson, J. E. Ellsworth, M. Groesbeck, J. E. Hansen, D. Pace, J. Peatross Jan 2015

Instrument For Precision Long-Term Ss-Decay Rate Measurements, M. J. Ware, Scott D. Bergeson, J. E. Ellsworth, M. Groesbeck, J. E. Hansen, D. Pace, J. Peatross

Faculty Publications

We describe an experimental setup for making precision measurements of relative ß-decay rates of 22Na, 36Cl, 54Mn, 60Co, 90Sr, 133Ba, 137Cs, 152Eu, and 154Eu. The radioactive samples are mounted in two automated sample changers that sequentially position the samples with high spatial precision in front of sets of detectors. The set of detectors for one sample changer consists of four Geiger-Müller (GM) tubes and the other set of detectors consists of two NaI scintillators. The statistical uncertainty in the count rate is few times 0.01% per day for the GM …


Strongly-Coupled Plasmas Formed From Laser-Heated Solids, M. Lyon, Scott D. Bergeson, G. Hart, M. S. Murillo Jan 2015

Strongly-Coupled Plasmas Formed From Laser-Heated Solids, M. Lyon, Scott D. Bergeson, G. Hart, M. S. Murillo

Faculty Publications

We present an analysis of ion temperatures in laser-produced plasmas formed from solids with different initial lattice structures. We show that the equilibrium ion temperature is limited by a mismatch between the initial crystallographic configuration and the close-packed configuration of a strongly-coupled plasma, similar to experiments in ultracold neutral plasmas. We propose experiments to demonstrate and exploit this crystallographic heating in order to produce a strongly coupled plasma with a coupling parameter of several hundred.


Limit Of Strong Ion Coupling Due To Electron Shielding, M. Lyon, Scott D. Bergeson, M. S. Murillo Jan 2013

Limit Of Strong Ion Coupling Due To Electron Shielding, M. Lyon, Scott D. Bergeson, M. S. Murillo

Faculty Publications

We show that strong coupling between ions in an ultracold neutral plasma is limited by electron screening. While electron screening reduces the quasiequilibrium ion temperature, it also reduces the ion-ion electrical potential energy. The net result is that the ratio of nearest-neighbor potential energy to kinetic energy in quasiequilibrium is constant and limited to approximately 1 unless the electrons are heated by some external source. We support these conclusions by reporting measurements of the ion velocity distribution in an ultracold neutral calcium plasma. These results match previously reported simulations of Yukawa systems. Theoretical considerations are used to determine the screened …


Versatile Rb Vapor Cells With Long Lifetimes, John F. Hulbert, Matthieu Giraud-Carrier, Tom Wall, Aaron R. Hawkins, Scott D. Bergeson, Jennifer Black, Holger Schmidt Jan 2013

Versatile Rb Vapor Cells With Long Lifetimes, John F. Hulbert, Matthieu Giraud-Carrier, Tom Wall, Aaron R. Hawkins, Scott D. Bergeson, Jennifer Black, Holger Schmidt

Faculty Publications

The authors report on an approach to the construction of long-lasting rubidium atomic vapor cells. The method uses pinch-off copper cold-welds, low temperature solders, and electroplated copper to create long-lasting hermetic seals between containment chambers of dissimilar geometries and materials. High temperature epoxy, eutectic lead/tin solder, and indium solder were considered as sealing materials. These seals were analyzed using accelerated lifetime testing techniques. Vapor cells with epoxy and bare metal solder seals had a decrease in the rubidium atomic density within days after being heated to elevated temperatures. They also exhibited broadened spectra as a result of rubidium reacting with …


Long-Lived Electron Spins In A Modulation Doped (100) Gaas Quantum Well, John S. Colton, D. Meyer, K Clark, D. Craft, J. Cutler, T. Park, P. White Oct 2012

Long-Lived Electron Spins In A Modulation Doped (100) Gaas Quantum Well, John S. Colton, D. Meyer, K Clark, D. Craft, J. Cutler, T. Park, P. White

Faculty Publications

We have measured T1 spin lifetimes of a 14 nm modulation-doped (100) GaAs quantum well using a time-resolved pump-probe Kerr rotation technique. The quantum well was selected by tuning the wavelength of the probe laser. T1 lifetimes in excess of 1 Us were measured at 1.5 K and 5.5 T, exceeding the typical T2 lifetimes that have been measured in GaAs and II-VI quantum wells by orders of magnitude. We observed effects from nuclear polarization, which were largely removable by simultaneous nuclear magnetic resonance, along with two distinct lifetimes under some conditions that likely result from probing two differently localized …


Ground-State Characterizations Of Systems Predicted To Exhibit L11 Or L13 Crystal Structures, Lance J. Nelson, Gus L. W. Hart, Stefano Curtarolo Feb 2012

Ground-State Characterizations Of Systems Predicted To Exhibit L11 Or L13 Crystal Structures, Lance J. Nelson, Gus L. W. Hart, Stefano Curtarolo

Faculty Publications

Despite their geometric simplicity, the crystal structures L11 (CuPt) and L13 (CdPt3) do not appear as ground states experimentally, except in Cu-Pt. We investigate the possibility that these phases are ground states in other binary intermetallic systems, but overlooked experimentally. Via the synergy between high-throughput and cluster-expansion computational methods, we conduct a thorough search for systems that may exhibit these phases and calculate order-disorder transition temperatures when they are predicted. High-throughput calculations predict L11 ground states in the systems Ag-Pd, Ag-Pt, Cu-Pt, Pd-Pt, Li-Pd, Li-Pt and L13 ground states in the systems Cd-Pt, Cu-Pt, Pd-Pt, Li-Pd, Li-Pt. Cluster expansions confirm …


Stable Ordered Structures Of Binary Technetium Alloys From First Principles, Gus L. W. Hart, Ohad Levy, Junkai Xue, Shidong Wang, Stefano Curtarolo Jan 2012

Stable Ordered Structures Of Binary Technetium Alloys From First Principles, Gus L. W. Hart, Ohad Levy, Junkai Xue, Shidong Wang, Stefano Curtarolo

Faculty Publications

Technetium, element 43, is the only radioactive transition metal. It occurs naturally on earth in only trace amounts. Experimental investigation of its possible compounds is thus inherently difficult and limited. Half of the Tc-transition-metal systems (14 out of 28) are reported to be phase separating or lack experimental data. Using high-throughput first-principles calculations, we present a comprehensive investigation of the binary alloys of technetium with the transition metals. The calculations predict stable, ordered structures in nine of these 14 binary systems. They also predict additional compounds in all nine known compound-forming systems and in two of the five systems reported …


"Ultracold" Neutral Plasmas At Room Temperature, N. Heilmann, J. B. Peatross, Scott D. Bergeson Jan 2012

"Ultracold" Neutral Plasmas At Room Temperature, N. Heilmann, J. B. Peatross, Scott D. Bergeson

Faculty Publications

We report a measurement of the electron temperature in a plasma generated by a high-intensity laser focused into a jet of neon. The 15 eV electron temperature is determined using an analytic solution of the plasma equations assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium, initially developed for ultracold neutral plasmas. We show that this analysis method accurately reproduces more sophisticated plasma simulations in our temperature and density range. While our plasma temperatures are far outside the typical "ultracold" regime, the ion temperature is determined by the plasma density through disorder-induced heating just as in ultracold neutral plasma experiments. Based on our results, we …