Physics Commons^™

Rapid-Prototyping Nanofabrication: Lcd-Based Projection Lithography And Physical Vapor Deposition, Sabeel Saleem Mohammmed

University Honors Theses

The semiconductor industry's continued growth, driven in large part by demand for artificial intelligence hardware, has highlighted the need for greater workforce development in regions adjacent to major fabrication centers like Oregon's Silicon Forest. This capstone project lays the groundwork for a small scale and student led semiconductor fabrication lab at Portland State University by demonstrating two of the core steps in chip manufacturing: photolithography and thin film deposition. Rather than relying on conventional fixed reticles, this work explores a unique, low cost approach to patterning that uses an ultraviolet-compatible liquid crystal display (LCD) as a programmable reticle, allowing arbitrary …

Phase-Resolved Measurement And Arbitrary Mode Conversion Of Structured Light, Somayeh Ghazanfarpour

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a single-shot phase and amplitude retrieval technique based on spatial light modulator (SLM)-based digital holography. The proposed method enables accurate reconstruction of complex optical fields from a single interferogram, reducing sensitivity to environmental fluctuations and improving experimental stability compared to conventional multi-shot approaches. In addition, a programmable arbitrary mode converter is developed using SLM-based wavefront shaping. By introducing controlled astigmatism and engineering the differential Gouy phase between orthogonal components, the system enables flexible transformation between structured light modes, including Hermite–Gaussian and Laguerre–Gaussian beams. Numerical results demonstrate reliable phase recovery and efficient mode conversion, validating the performance of …

Structure Functions For The Inclusive Semileptonic B-Quark Decay At Nnlo: A Semi-Analytic Calculation, A. Broggio, B. Capdevila, A. Ferroglia, P. Gambino

Publications and Research

We present a study of the inclusive charmless semileptonic b decay, b → X_uℓv at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in perturbative QCD, with the primary aim of extracting the hadronic structure functions Wi at NNLO. The analysis is based on a numerical calculation of the relevant kinematic distributions using a phase-space slicing method to handle infrared-sensitive contributions from real gluon emissions. We use known results from Heavy Quark Effective Theory and Soft-Collinear Effective Theory to extract the singular terms and construct a model for the regular contributions to the structure functions at NNLO, then perform a fit to the …

Hot Jupiter Atmospheres Through Time, Annabelle E. Niblett

Physics and Astronomy Undergraduate Senior Theses

Transmission spectroscopy of hot Jupiters enables mass and atmospheric composition measurements, providing insight into population dynamics and evolution when other methods are hindered by stellar activity. To effectively plan observations and interpret transmission spectra, we must have a robust understanding of how atmospheres evolve over time. To that end, we present a suite of hot Jupiter transmission spectra models with ages ranging from 3 Myr to 11 Gyr. We incorporate the cooling and contraction of the planet, which impacts the atmospheric profile, and the evolution of the stellar UV spectrum, which moderates photodissociation and photoionization. Using PICASO,  VULCAN, and FastChem …

Investigating Broadband Plasma Waves As A Driver Of Radiation Belt Energetic Electron Loss To Earth's Atmosphere, Lauren Zanarini

Physics and Astronomy Undergraduate Senior Theses

Wave-particle interactions play a central role in transferring energy between different particle populations in space plasmas. In the radiation belts, these interactions govern the acceleration, scattering, and loss of energetic particles to Earth’s atmosphere. Understanding the drivers of these energetic particle losses is essential, as these particles can collide with satellites and contribute to ozone depletion as they enter the atmosphere. Developing a clearer picture of these processes will improve our ability to predict radiation belt variability and quantify the impacts, ultimately allowing us to mitigate the adverse effects.

Previous research has identified wave modes important for scattering electrons into …

Pedersen By Proxy: Neutral Wind Drivers Of The Magnetosphere, Shreya Gandhi

Physics and Astronomy Undergraduate Senior Theses

Measurements of Saturn’s radio and magnetic periodicities suggest that atmospheric forcing influences the magnetosphere-coupled current systems on the planet (Gurnett et al., 2007). A proposed mechanism for this phenomenon is that thermospheric heating drives strong neutral winds which drag ionospheric plasma and generate currents that close along magnetic field lines (Smith, 2011). However, the local current-closure physics of these processes is di!cult to isolate in global Saturn models even if they suggest neutral wind forcing is a plausible driver for these changes (Jia et al., 2012). This thesis uses the Earth-based auroral GEMINI (Geospace Environment Model of Ion-Neutral Interactions) model …

Tracing The Seam: Machine Learning Models Of The Open–Closed Boundary From Upstream Solar Wind Drivers, Arnav Singh

Physics and Astronomy Undergraduate Senior Theses

The open–closed magnetic field line boundary (OCB) demarcates closed terrestrial field lines from those threaded into the interplanetary medium, and its latitude encodes the instantaneous balance between dayside and nightside reconnection that governs much of the high-latitude space-weather hazard. No single instrument resolves it globally in real time. In this thesis I close that gap empirically. Pairing nearly three decades (1983–2012) of Defense Meteorological Satellite Program particle-precipitation boundaries with the 5-minute OMNI solar-wind and geomagnetic-index record yields ∼9.1×10⁵ causally matched crossings, partitioned into six hemispheric/MLT sectors after a |MLat| ≥ 40° physics cut.

On this corpus I train three …

The Method Of Periodic Averaging Applied To Reduced Coupled Mode Theory Models For Fiber Laser Amplifiers, Rebecca Nicole Bryant

Dissertations and Theses

Fiber laser amplifier (FLA) models are often implemented without rigorous mathematical justification or thorough numerical validation. Without a proper theoretical basis for assumptions and approximations, or a technical analysis of model performance, there is significant uncertainty about the limitations of any given reduced model and its suitability for an application. This research aims to address the lack of comprehensive assessment of FLA models by directly comparing distinct models and recommending a mathematical alternative to replace heuristic model-reduction techniques. The work in this dissertation is divided into two projects: a comparative study that uses existing FLA models to assess the validity …

Flagellar Coordination In A Swimming Multicellular Bacterium, Erandi Sachinthanie Imiya Mudiyanselage, Melina Mati, Alexander P. Petroff

Physics

Microbial locomotion is well understood when cells use either a small number of flagella or a high density of cilia. However many microbes live in an intermediate regime where coordination strategies such as flagellar bundles and metachronal waves are not possible. The mechanisms by which such organisms coordinate the motion of their swimming appendages are not well understood. Here, we study the only known obligatory multicellular bacterium, which are of the genus Magnetoglobus. Cells of this genus live exclusively in spherical communities called consortia, which are composed of a monolayer of tens of cells. Approximately a thousand of flagella project …

Detectability Of Polarized Γ-Ray Emission From Blazar Flares With Cosi, Garrett A. Latiolais, Jorge Otero-Santos, Michela Negro, Lea Marcotulli, Mohammad Ali Boroumand, Savitri Gallego, Tiffany Lewis, Et Al.

Michigan Tech Publications

We investigate the detectability of polarized γ-ray emission from blazar flares with the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI). Using 17 yr of Fermi Large Area Telescope observations, we analyze light curves for 1413 blazars and identify a maximum of 787 sources with flaring episodes through Bayesian block analysis. For each flare, we estimate the minimum detectable polarization (MDP99%) in the COSI energy band (0.2–5 MeV) using instrument response functions under a range of spectral assumptions and background conditions. Under baseline background levels (1 count s⁻¹) and assuming that blazar flare statistics in the MeV band are comparable to …

Matching Two Long Interferometric Pathlengths Using Low Temporal Coherence Light For Finding Hong–Ou–Mandel Dip, Keith A. Wyman, Noah S. Everett, Anil K. Patnaik

Faculty Publications

Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) dip from a biphoton source in a two-photon interferometer provides a myriad of quantum tools for quantum communication and sensing. But the stringent requirements for spatial coherence between the photon pair makes it prohibitively difficult to observe high-fidelity HOM dip in long-distance free-space implementations, e.g., for the photon pairs involved in quantum communication need to match the two path lengths within a few 10 s of micron because of the short coherence width of the two-photon wave-packet. While many techniques for the pathlength balancing of two interferometric arms have been studied and applied extensively, such balancing is further …

Course Portfolio: Elements Of Physics Phys 151, Evan A. Rich

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This course portfolio documents the instructional design, teaching methods, and ongoing assessment efforts for PHYS 151: Elements of Physics, an algebra-based introductory physics course at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The course serves a broad undergraduate population, including architecture, construction management, and life science majors. The portfolio describes the teaching framework that integrates pre-lecture video preparation, active in-class engagement through iClicker questions, and collaborative weekly recitation sections, all unified around a structured six-step problem-solving approach. A central concern of the course is building students’ self-efficacy in physics, particularly among those with math anxiety or limited preparation. Two assessments are reported: a …

Ab-Initio Investigation Of 2d Materials For Voc-Based Cancer Biomarker Detection And Hydrogen Storage Application, Ibrahim J.M. Alghoul

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

This dissertation is motivated by two driving forces:
(i) the need for biosensors for early cancer diagnosis, and
(ii) the need for hydrogen storage materials to support a future energy hydrogen-based economy.
Throughout this thesis, both challenges were addressed using computational methods based upon density functional theory (DFT), as implemented in the Vienna Ab-initio Simulation Package (VASP), ab-initio molecular dynamics (AIMD), and thermodynamic analysis.

On the side of cancer biomarker detection, exhaled breath containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been shown to offer the analysis of a promising non-invasive diagnostic strategy. This thesis explored the functionalization of two distinct 2D …

Fabrication Of Two-Dimensional Optoelectrical Devices, Holly Walworth

Honors Projects

Optoelectrical devices enable the exploration of interesting quantum states observed in two-dimensional (2D) condensed material systems. 2D materials, such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, exhibit unique electronic properties, including the Fractional Quantum Anomalous Hall effect (FQAHE). The realization of the FQAHE offers a pathway toward topological quantum computing via non-Abelian anyons. Still, fabricating high-quality 2D optoelectrical devices remains a significant experimental challenge. Using mechanical exfoliation and stacking techniques within an inert argon environment, we attempted to fabricate optoelectrical devices using twisted molybdenum ditelluride (tMoTe2) and gallium telluride (GaTe). Three devices were successfully assembled; however, structural defects including hexagonal boron …

Winddensity-Mbir: Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction For Wind Tunnel 3d Density Estimation, Karl J. Weisenburger, Gregery T. Buzzard, Charles A. Bouman, Matthew R. Kemnetz

Faculty Publications

Experimentalists often use wind tunnels to study aerodynamic turbulence, but most wind tunnel imaging techniques are limited in their ability to take non-invasive three-dimensional (3D) density measurements of turbulence. Wavefront tomography is a technique that uses multiple wavefront measurements from various viewing angles to non-invasively measure the 3D density field of a turbulent medium. Existing methods make strong assumptions, such as a spline basis representation, to address the ill-conditioned nature of this problem. We formulate this problem as a Bayesian, sparse-view tomographic reconstruction problem and develop a model-based iterative reconstruction algorithm for measuring the volumetric 3D density field inside a …

Generating Live Heatmaps Of Edr Data Through A Spatiotemporal Weighting, Joel T. Williams, C. Sean Bohun, Alberto Fornaci, Michael R. Lindstrom

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper introduces a novel method for generating live heatmaps of eddy dissipation rate (EDR) data through a spatiotemporal weighting designed to enhance turbulence visualization in aviation. As more flight data become available, approaches relying solely on in-flight EDR measurements have the potential to accurately nowcast and visualize turbulence with low computational cost. The proposed method significantly improves the turbulence visualization capabilities of common commercial aircraft. This is particularly valuable for pilot decision-making and trip planning, enhancing flight safety and operational efficiency. This approach also incorporates an innovative uncertainty threshold, which refrains from predicting when there are insufficient data, thereby …

30 Db On-Chip Ultra-High Inverse Weak Value Amplification, Yuhan Mei, Meiting Song, Andrew N. Jordan, Jaime Cardenas

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Weak value amplification (WVA) has emerged as a powerful technique that enhances measurement precision. However, traditional table-top WVA setups and on-chip demonstrations have not achieved an amplification over 20 dB. The practical limit of the amplification is the fidelity of photon post-selection. To address this limit, we design a weak value device with an over 30 dB interferometer extinction ratio, where the stray light in the dark port is minimized with thermally tunable phase shifters. As a result, the device successfully shows 30 dB WVA, termed ultra-high WVA. This WVA optimization strategy by improving interferometer extinction is extensible to a …

Constraints On Axion-Like Particles From Ultra-High-Energy Observations Of M87 With The Hawc Observatory, R. Alfaro, C. Alvarez, A. Andrés, E. Anita-Rangel, M. Araya, J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez, N. Ghosh, M. Najafi, Et Al.

Michigan Tech Publications

In this work, we perform an indirect search for axion-like particles (ALPs) through their hypothesized mixing with photons in the presence of magnetic fields. ALPs are a well-motivated dark-matter candidate class, and the photon-ALP conversion mechanism provides a unique channel to constrain their mass and coupling constant using very-high-energy gamma-ray observations. The photon-ALP mixing could alter the observed gamma-ray spectrum from extragalactic sources by effectively reducing the apparent attenuation due to extragalactic-background-light absorption. We analyze 7.5 years of data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory, targeting the nearby radio galaxy M87. This source is located within the Virgo …

Electrical Resistivity Tomography Investigation Of Hard Rock Aquifers In The Salinian Block, Roxanne C. Chambers

Physics

Identifying a productive groundwater source in hard rock terrain is often a challenge. Conventional hard rock aquifer models commonly describe a weathering derived layered system consisting of a laminated layer, an underlying fractured zone, and a competent granitic basement. This study investigates the applicability of this conceptual model at Lockshaw Ranch, a granitic site within the Salinian Block of central California located near the Rinconada Fault.

Previous electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) surveys and time domain electromagnetic (TDEM) data were integrated with a newly acquired ERT profile (ERT-06) are used to characterize the subsurface structure and identify potential groundwater bearing zones. …

Phases And Dynamics Of An Impurity Immersed In One-Dimensional Quantum Droplets, Dimitrios Diplaris, Ilias A. Englezos, Friethjof Theel, Peter Schmelcher, Simeon I. Mistakidis

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We explore the ground-state properties of a single impurity immersed in a one-dimensional quantum droplet medium formed by a two-component Bose mixture. Relying on ab initio simulations, we demonstrate that tuning the impurity–droplet interactions allows to controllably reshape the droplets' density profiles and associated correlation patterns. For attractive impurity-medium couplings, the impurity becomes localized within the droplet, which exhibits a density hump at the vicinity of the impurity, while repulsive interactions facilitate phase separation. Comparing our many-body results with the appropriate extended Gross–Pitaevskii description, we find adequate agreement for the droplet density profiles, with the effective field approach systematically overestimating …

Golden And Silver Dark Sirens For Precise H0 Measurement With Hetdex, Yixuan Dang, Ish Gupta, Robin Ciardullo, Erin Mentuch Cooper, Shiksha Pandey, Dustin Davis, Surhud More, Rachel Gray, Hsin Yu Chen, Daniel J. Farrow, Caryl Gronwall, Donghui Jeong, Shun Saito, Donald P. Schneider

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Gravitational waves (GWs) from compact binary coalescences are standard sirens that provide a direct measure of the source's luminosity distance, enabling an independent measurement of the Hubble constant (H0). While a bright siren—a GW event with an identified electromagnetic (EM) counterpart—provided the first such constraint, most detections, currently dominated by black hole mergers, lack EM signatures. A measurement of H0 is still possible with these dark sirens by statistically associating GW events with galaxies in existing catalogs based on the sky localization. In this work, we explore the potential of two subsets of dark sirens categorized by their localization precision: …

Muon Lifetime: Theory, Experiment, And Simulation, Soren Agustin Munoz

Physics

This senior project investigates the muon lifetime through three complementary approaches: theoretical calculation, laboratory measurement, and computational simulation. The theoretical component develops the necessary background from relativistic field theory to the effective weak interaction, culminating in the leading-order Fermi-theory prediction of τ ≈ 2.2 μs, which explains why the muon lifetime lies on the microsecond scale.

The experimental component measures the lifetime of stopped cosmic-ray muons using a plastic scintillator, photomultiplier tube, and analog timing electronics. A binned Poisson likelihood fit to the primary 15-day acquisition run τ = 2.17^+0.03_-0.09 μs, consistent with the accepted value within the …

Validation Of Electromagnetic Shower Development In A Reduced Alice Focal-E Detector Model Using Geant4, Isaac Lara Romo

Physics

This project focuses on the preliminary simulation of a reduced FoCal-E detector model for the ALICE experiment at CERN. Beamline tests were simulated using an electron gun at various incident energies, and the results were compared with those of the FoCal group. The longitudinal charge deposition per sensor layer was compared between the two setups to verify that the reduced model exhibited expected calorimeter behavior. Additionally, the transverse signal across the high-granularity sensor layers was examined to determine whether the reduced model reproduced the expected lateral development of electromagnetic showers. The results obtained from these measurements show that the reduced …

High-Pressure Studies Of Magnetic Topological Materials, Greeshma Chireckal Jose

ETDs from 2020-2029

Quantum technology leverages the principles of quantum mechanics to transform emerging fields such as quantum computing, spintronics, and next-generation electronics. A crucial step in advancing this frontier is the detailed understanding of fundamental quantum phenomena in materials that can drive quantum innovation. This research aims to systematically investigate quantum phase transitions and unconventional emergent behaviors in magnetic topological materials subjected to external pressure. This study focuses on three representative systems: EuCd2As2, EuMnBi2, and FeSn, each serving as a model for exploring intrinsic magnetic topological states. EuCd2As2, a candidate Weyl semimetal (WSM), is expected to exhibit pressure-induced topological phase transitions, making …

The Implementation Of Scintillation Detectors With The Cuore/Cupid Collaboration In The Search For Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay, Reese Sandra Cormier

Physics

CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) is an experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Assergi, Italy, currently searching for an answer to the matter-antimatter asymmetry problem; the question: why do we exist? One proposed explanation is neutrinoless double beta decay, a theorized exotic decay that would prove that neutrinos are their own antiparticle, violating the current Standard Model for particle physics. However, current detection methods do not distinguish different types of particle interactions, resulting in alpha decays contributing to the background. Therefore, the experimental sensitivity is too limited to make confident determinations about the data. For this …

Improving The Reliability And Performance Of A Supersonic Indraft Tube Wind Tunnel, Christian J. Kaml

Master's Theses

Access to supersonic testing is increasing in demand, and wind tunnels remain one of the safest and most cost-effective methods for gathering high-speed flow data. Despite being more economical than alternative options, supersonic wind tunnel facilities often require substantial investment to construct, operate, and maintain.

The novel indraft tube tunnel architecture was conceived as a high-speed flow testbed that incorporates features of both Ludwieg tubes and indraft wind tunnels to maintain costs low enough to be accessible even to small universities. This design was first developed and tested in 2018 at California Polytechnic State University, featuring a cost per test …

Computational Insights Into Nucleosome Dynamics In Epigenetics Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Rutika Patel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Nucleosome core particles (NCP) are the building blocks that form a highly organized and compact chromatin structure. Nucleosomes package DNA in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. The NCP consists of about 147 base pairs of DNA wrapped around the histone octamer, with 1.65 superhelical turns in a left-handed manner. The histone octamer is composed of two copies of H3, H4, H2A, and H2B. Together with histone H1 and linker DNA, they further assemble into a higher-order chromatin structure. The nucleosome complex is stabilized by electrostatic interactions between positively charged histone residues and the negatively charged DNA backbone. To effectively access …

1d Crust-Magnetosphere Coupling Model For Magnetars, Kennedy M. Jeter

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Magnetars are the most extremely magnetized objects in the universe. Their strong magnetic fields generate high-energy magnetic flares with instantaneous luminosity that can outshine their host galaxy. Previous works have explored how Hall drift in the crust affects the dynamics of magnetic field lines in the magnetosphere. This work investigates how a change in the magnetosphere, such as a flare or an outburst, can excite Hall evolution in the crust. We investigate how the twisting and untwisting of magnetic field lines in a magnetar’s magnetosphere launches Hall waves through its crust using a one-dimensional numerical model. We use the Dedalus …

Experimental Methods For Cryogenic Rare Event Detection: Cuore And Cupid, Alessandro Libenson

Physics

This senior project was written with the primary purpose of serving as a introductory guide for undergraduate students learning about the experimental methods used in the CUORE and CUPID Collaborations. In particular, this project is geared towards getting students in Dr. Gutierrez's research group at Cal Poly up to speed on what CUORE and CUPID actually do. I wrote this as an undergraduate aiming to help future undergraduates. For Cal Poly students, I would suggest the following prerequisites before reading this paper: Electronics and Instrumentation, Quantum Laboratory 1, and the equivalent of the coding/analysis class. It is also important to …

Sea-Ice Observation In The Arctic By The Arab Satellite 813, Simulated By The Radiative Transfer Model ‘Sciatran’, Tuqa Mohsin Al Hajri

Theses

The purpose of this research is to explore the spectral behavior of sea ice and to understand how Arctic sea ice surfaces appear when they are observed with a hyperspectral sensor. This is crucial because sea ice changes a lot during the melt season, and different surface types can sometimes look similar to a human eye, but physically they are different. It is thus essential to identify the spectral differences between these surfaces. The main objective of this study is to examine how the spectra of white ice and melt ponds change when their physical and optical properties are varied, …