Physics Commons^™

Impact Of The Synthesis Process On Structure Properties For Afci Fuel Candidates, Kenneth Czerwinski

Fuels Campaign (TRP)

The research objectives are:

• To explore a low-temperature fluoride route to synthesize actinide nitrides. • To characterize actinide nitrides structurally and thermally.

• To use high resolution TEM techniques to explore the microstructure of the radioactive samples.

Solution-Based Synthesis Of Nitride Fuels, Kenneth Czerwinski, Tyler A. Sullens

Fuels Campaign (TRP)

One of the original synthetic routes devised for the synthesis of U (III)N involved the entire reaction taking place in liquid ammonia. Several experimental reactions were conducted in an attempt to synthesize the UI₃(NH₃)_x and U(NH₂)₃(NH₃)_x precursors of U(III) N. Each attempt involved cleaning of the uranium metal to remove the oxide coating of the metal reagent with 3 washes of concentrated nitric acid, each followed by a rinse with liquid ammonia. Success of this cleaning procedure was varied, with a majority of cleaned metal oxidizing rapidly once …

Tunneling Phase Gate For Neutral Atoms In A Double-Well Lattice, Frederick W. Strauch, Mark Edwards, Eite Tiesinga, Carl Williams, Charles W. Clark

Physics & Astronomy: Faculty Publications

We propose a two-qubit phase gate for ultracold atoms in a tilted double-well optical lattice. Such a lattice is capable of confining pairs of atoms in a two-dimensional array of double-well potentials where both the barrier height and the energy difference of the minima of the two wells (known as the “tilt”) can be controlled. The four lowest single-particle motional states can be used to form spatially separated qubits. We present a time-dependent scheme to manipulate the tilt to induce tunneling oscillations which produce a collisional phase gate. Numerical simulations demonstrate that this gate can be performed with high fidelity.

A Visual Indication Of Environmental Humidity Using A Color Changing Hologram Recorded In A Self-Developing Photopolymer, Izabela Naydenova, Raghavendra Jallapuram, Vincent Toal, Suzanne Martin

Articles

A reflection hologram for visual indication of environmental humidity has been studied. The hologram is recorded in a self-developing photopolymer and changes color when exposed to a change in humidity and is fully reversible. The range of color change, reversibility, and the response time of the hologram have been studied in a controlled humidity environment. Fully reversible holograms with response times from few seconds to tens of minutes have been designed. Extremely sensitive bright visual humidity indicators, capable of dramatic color change within a few seconds of breathing on them are demonstrated

All-Sky Search For Periodic Gravitational Waves In Ligo S4 Data, B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, Mario C. Diaz, R. Grosso, Soumya Mohanty, Soma Mukherjee, Cristina V. Torres

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We report on an all-sky search with the LIGO detectors for periodic gravitational waves in the frequency range 50–1000 Hz and with the frequency’s time derivative in the range −1×10−8  Hz s−1 to zero. Data from the fourth LIGO science run (S4) have been used in this search. Three different semicoherent methods of transforming and summing strain power from short Fourier transforms (SFTs) of the calibrated data have been used. The first, known as StackSlide, averages normalized power from each SFT. A “weighted Hough” scheme is also developed and used, which also allows for a multi-interferometer search. The third method, …

Low Noise, High Repetition Rate Semiconductor-Based Mode-Locked Lasers For Signal Processing And Coherent Communications, Franklyn Quinlan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation details work on high repetition rate semiconductor mode-locked lasers. The qualities of stable pulse trains and stable optical frequency content are the focus of the work performed. First, applications of such lasers are reviewed with particular attention to applications only realizable with laser performance such as presented in this dissertation. Sources of timing jitter are also reviewed, as are techniques by which the timing jitter of a 10 GHz optical pulse train may be measured. Experimental results begin with an exploration of the consequences on the timing and amplitude jitter of the phase noise of an RF source …

Ultrashort Laser Pulse Interaction With Photo-Thermo-Refractive Glass, Leo Siiman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Photo-thermo-refractive (PTR) glass is an ideal photosensitive material for recording phase volume holograms. It is a homogeneous multi-component silicate glass that demonstrates all the advantages of optical glass: thermal stability, high laser damage threshold, and a wide transparency range. Moreover the ability to record phase patterns (i.e. spatial refractive index variations) into PTR glass has resulted in the fabrication of volume holograms with diffraction efficiency greater than 99%. The conventional method of recording a hologram in PTR glass relies on exposure to continuous-wave ultraviolet laser radiation. In this dissertation the interaction between infrared ultrashort laser pulses and PTR glass is …

Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Photonic Crystal Lasers And Photonic Devices, Ying Zhou

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation discusses cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) and polymers based photonic devices including one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal lasers and broadband circular polarizers. CLCs showing unique self-organized chiral structures have been widely used in bistable displays, flexible displays, and reflectors. However, the photonic band gap they exhibit opens a new way for generating laser light at the photonic band edge (PBE) or inside the band gap. When doped with an emissive laser dye, cholesteric liquid crystals provide distributed feedback so that mirrorless lasing is hence possible. Due to the limited surface anchoring, the thickness of gain medium and feedback length is …

Integrated Optical Spr (Surface Plasmon Resonance) Sensor Based On Optoelectronic Platform, Hyungseok Bang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current major demands in SPR sensor development are system miniaturization and throughput improvement. Structuring an array of integrated optical SPR sensor heads on a semiconductor based optoelectronic platform could be a promising solution for those issues, since integrated optical waveguides have highly miniaturized dimension and the optoelectronic platform enables on-chip optical-to-electrical signal conversion. Utilizing a semiconductor based platform to achieve optoelectronic functionality poses requirements to the senor head; the sensor head needs to have reasonably small size while it should have reasonable sensitivity and fabrication tolerance. This research proposes a novel type of SPR sensor head and demonstrates a fabricated …

Extended Focus Range High Resolution Endoscopic Optical Coherence Tomography, Kye-Sung Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Today, medical imaging is playing an important role in medicine as it provides the techniques and processes used to create images of the human body or parts thereof for clinical purposes (medical procedures seeking to reveal, diagnose or examine disease) or medical science (including the study of normal anatomy and function). Modalities are developing over time to achieve the highest possible resolution, speed of image acquisition, sensitivity, and specificity. In the past decade, advances in optics, fiber, as well as laser technology have enabled the development of noninvasive optical biomedical imaging technology that can also be applied to endoscopy to …

Quantum Graphical Models And Belief Propagation, Matthew S. Leifer, D. Poulin

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Belief Propagation algorithms acting on Graphical Models of classical probability distributions, such as Markov Networks, Factor Graphs and Bayesian Networks, are amongst the most powerful known methods for deriving probabilistic inferences amongst large numbers of random variables. This paper presents a generalization of these concepts and methods to the quantum case, based on the idea that quantum theory can be thought of as a noncommutative, operator-valued, generalization of classical probability theory. Some novel characterizations of quantum conditional independence are derived, and definitions of Quantum n-Bifactor Networks, Markov Networks, Factor Graphs and Bayesian Networks are proposed. The structure of Quantum Markov …

Nonclassicality Without Entanglement Enables Bit Commitment, Howard Barnum, Oscar C. O. Dahlsten, Matthew S. Leifer, Ben Toner

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We investigate the existence of secure bit commitment protocols in the convex framework for probabilistic theories. The framework makes only minimal assumptions, and can be used to formalize quantum theory, classical probability theory, and a host of other possibilities. We prove that in all such theories that are locally non-classical but do not have entanglement, there exists a bit commitment protocol that is exponentially secure in the number of systems used.

Color Transparency In Qcd And Post-Selection In Quantum Mechanics, Shmuel Nussinov, Jeff Tollaksen

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We discuss color transparency in the nuclear QCD context from the perspective of pre- and post-selected ensembles. We show that the small size of the hadronic states can be explained by the peculiar "force of post-selection," in contrast to the more standard explanation based on external forces.

Controlled Deposition Of Magnetic Molecules And Nanoparticles On Atomically Flat Gold Surfaces, Md. Firoze Haque

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I am presenting a detailed study to optimize the deposition of magnetic molecules and gold nanoparticles in atomically flat surfaces by self-assembling them from solution. Epitaxially grown and atomically flat gold surface on mica is used as substrate for this study. These surfaces have roughness of the order one tenth of a nanometer and are perfect to image molecules and nanoparticles in the 1-10 nanometers range. The purpose of these studies is to find the suitable parameters and conditions necessary to deposit a monolayer of nano-substance on chips containing gold nanowires which will eventually be used to …

Hypersonic Boundary Layer Receptivity To Acoustic Disturbances Over Cones, Kursat Kara

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The receptivity mechanisms of hypersonic boundary layers to free stream acoustic disturbances are studied using both linear stability theory (LST) and direct numerical simulations (DNS). A computational code is developed for numerical simulation of steady and unsteady hypersonic flow over cones by combining a fifth-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme with third-order total-variation-diminishing (TVD) Runge-Kutta method. Hypersonic boundary layer receptivity to free-stream acoustic disturbances in slow and fast modes over 5-degree, half-angle blunt cones and wedges are numerically investigated. The free-stream Mach number is 6.0, and the unit Reynolds number is 7.8×106/ft. Both the steady and unsteady solutions are obtained …

Nonthermal Laser-Induced Formation Of Crystalline Ge Quantum Dots On Si(100), M. S. Hegazy, H. E. Elsayed-Ali

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The effects of laser-induced electronic excitations on the self-assembly of Ge quantum dots on Si (100) - (2×1) grown by pulsed laser deposition are studied. Electronic excitations due to laser irradiation of the Si substrate and the Ge film during growth are shown to decrease the roughness of films grown at a substrate temperature of ∼120 °C. At this temperature, the grown films are nonepitaxial. Electronic excitation results in the formation of an epitaxial wetting layer and crystalline Ge quantum dots at ∼260 °C, a temperature at which no crystalline quantum dots form without excitation under the same deposition conditions. …

Plasma Medicine, Mounir Laroussi, Alexander Fridman

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Recent demonstrations of plasma technology in the treatment of living cells, tissues, and organs are creating a newfield at the intersection of plasma science and technology with biology and medicine - Plasma Medicine.

Stochastic Hard-Sphere Dynamics For Hydrodynamics Of Non-Ideal Fluids, Alejandro Garcia, A. Donev, B. J. Alder

Faculty Publications

A novel stochastic fluid model is proposed with a nonideal structure factor consistent with compressibility, and adjustable transport coefficients. This stochastic hard sphere dynamics (SHSD) algorithm is a modification of the direct simulation Monte Carlo algorithm and has several computational advantages over event-driven hard-sphere molecular dynamics. Surprisingly, SHSD results in an equation of state and a pair correlation function identical to that of a deterministic Hamiltonian system of penetrable spheres interacting with linear core pair potentials. The fluctuating hydrodynamic behavior of the SHSD fluid is verified for the Brownian motion of a nanoparticle suspended in a compressible solvent.

Studies Of Spatial Clustering Of Inertial Particles In Turbulence, Ewe Wei Saw

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

We present studies of the spatial clustering of inertial particles embedded in turbulent flow. A major part of the thesis is experimental, involving the technique of Phase Doppler Interferometry (PDI). The thesis also includes significant amount of simulation studies and some theoretical considerations. We describe the details of PDI and explain why it is suitable for study of particle clustering in turbulent flow with a strong mean velocity. We introduce the concept of the radial distribution function (RDF) as our chosen way of quantifying inertial particle clustering and present some original works on foundational and practical considerations related to it. …

Electronic Properties Of Zig-Zag Carbon Nanotubes : A First-Principles Study, Pavan Kumar Valavala

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Carbon nanotube (CNT) is a one dimensional (1-D) nanostructured material, which has been the focal point of research over the past decade for intriguing applications ranging from nanoelectronics to chemical and biological sensors. Using a first-principles gradient corrected density functional approach, we present a comprehensive study of the geometry and energy band gap in zig-zag semi-conducting (n,0) carbon nanotubes (CNT) to resolve some of the conflicting findings. Our calculations confirm that the single wall (n,0) CNTs fall into two distinct classes depending upon n mod 3 equal to 1 (smaller band gaps) or 2 (larger gaps). …

Denaturation Transition Of Stretched Dna, Andreas Hanke, Martha G. Ochoa, Ralf Metzler

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We generalize the Poland-Scheraga model to consider DNA denaturation in the presence of an external stretching force. We demonstrate the existence of a force-induced DNA denaturation transition and obtain the temperature-force phase diagram. The transition is determined by the loop exponent c, for which we find the new value c=4ν−1/2 such that the transition is second order with c=1.85DNA, corresponding to a lower melting temperature T(F), in agreement with single-molecule DNA stretching experiments.