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open access

Core-Shell Based Metamaterials: Fabrication Protocol and Optical Properties

Description: The objective of this study is to examine core-shell type plasmonic metamaterials aimed at the development of materials with unique electromagnetic properties. The building blocks of metamaterials under study consist of gold as a metal component, and silica and precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) as the dielectric media. The results of this study demonstrate important applications of the core-shells including scattering suppression, airborne obscurants made of fractal gold shells, photomodific… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: De Silva, Vashista C
open access

Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles for Nonlinear Bioimaging, Cell Detection and Selective Cell Destruction

Description: Light matter interactions have led to a great part of our current understanding of the universe. When light interacts with matter it affects the properties of both the light and the matter. Visible light, being in the region that the human eye can "see," was one of the first natural phenomenon we used to learn about our universe. The application of fundamental physics research has spilled over into other fields that were traditionally separated from physics, being considered two different scien… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Urban, Ben E.
open access

Criticality in Cooperative Systems

Description: Cooperative behavior arises from the interactions of single units that globally produce a complex dynamics in which the system acts as a whole. As an archetype I refer to a flock of birds. As a result of cooperation the whole flock gets special abilities that the single individuals would not have if they were alone. This research work led to the discovery that the function of a flock, and more in general, that of cooperative systems, surprisingly rests on the occurrence of organizational collap… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Vanni, Fabio
open access

A New Approach for Transition Metal Free Magnetic Sic: Defect Induced Magnetism After Self-ion Implantation

Description: SiC has become an attractive wide bandgap semiconductor due to its unique physical and electronic properties and is widely used in high temperature, high frequency, high power and radiation resistant applications. SiC has been used as an alternative to Si in harsh environments such as in the oil industry, nuclear power systems, aeronautical, and space applications. SiC is also known for its polytypism and among them 3C-SiC, 4H-SiC and 6H-SiC are the most common polytypes used for research purpo… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Kummari, Venkata Chandra Sekhar
open access

A Determination of the Fine Structure Constant Using Precision Measurements of Helium Fine Structure

Description: Spectroscopic measurements of the helium atom are performed to high precision using an atomic beam apparatus and electro-optic laser techniques. These measurements, in addition to serving as a test of helium theory, also provide a new determination of the fine structure constant α. An apparatus was designed and built to overcome limitations encountered in a previous experiment. Not only did this allow an improved level of precision but also enabled new consistency checks, including an extr… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Smiciklas, Marc
open access

Charged Particle Transport and Confinement Along Null Magnetic Curves and in Various Other Nonuniform Field Configurations for Applications in Antihydrogen Production

Description: Comparisons between measurements of the ground-state hyperfine structure and gravitational acceleration of hydrogen and antihydrogen could provide a test of fundamental physical theories such as CPT (charge conjugation, parity, time-reversal) and gravitational symmetries. Currently, antihydrogen traps are based on Malmberg-Penning traps. The number of antiprotons in Malmberg-Penning traps with sufficiently low energy to be suitable for trappable antihydrogen production may be reduced by the el… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Lane, Ryan A.
open access

Local Phase Manipulation for Multi-Beam Interference Lithography for the Fabrication of Two and Three Dimensional Photonic Crystal Templates

Description: In this work, we study the use of a spatial light modulator (SLM) for local manipulation of phase in interfering laser beams to fabricate photonic crystal templates with embedded, engineered defects. A SLM displaying geometric phase patterns was used as a digitally programmable phase mask to fabricate 4-fold and 6-fold symmetric photonic crystal templates. Through pixel-by-pixel phase engineering, digital control of the phases of one or more of the interfering beams was demonstrated, thus allo… more
Date: December 2016
Creator: Lutkenhaus, Jeffrey Ryan
open access

Low-Energy Electron Irradiation of Preheated and Gas-Exposed Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

Description: We investigate the conditions under which electron irradiation of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) bundles with 2 keV electrons produces an increase in the Raman D peak. We find that an increase in the D peak does not occur when SWCNTs are preheated in situ at 600 C for 1 h in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) before irradiation is performed. Exposing SWCNTs to air or other gases after preheating in UHV and before irradiation results in an increase in the D peak. Small diameter SWCNTs that are not pr… more
Date: December 2016
Creator: Ecton, Philip
open access

Ion Beam Synthesis of Binary and Ternary Transition Metal Silicide Thin Films

Description: Among the well-known methods to form or modify the composition and physical properties of thin films, ion implantation has shown to be a very powerful technique. In particular, ion beam syntheses of binary iron silicide have been studied by several groups. Further, the interests in transition metal silicide systems are triggered by their potential use in advanced silicon based opto-electronic devices. In addition, ternary silicides have been by far less studied than their binary counterparts de… more
Date: December 2016
Creator: Lakshantha, Wickramaarachchige Jayampath
open access

Interacting complex systems: theory and application to real-world situations

Description: The interest in complex systems has increased exponentially during the past years because it was found helpful in addressing many of today's challenges. The study of the brain, biology, earthquakes, markets and social sciences are only a few examples of the fields that have benefited from the investigation of complex systems. Internet, the increased mobility of people and the raising energy demand are among the factors that brought in contact complex systems that were isolated till a few years … more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Piccinini, Nicola
open access

Dynamic Screening via Intense Laser Radiation and Its Effects on Bulk and Surface Plasma Dispersion Relations

Description: Recent experimentation with excitation of surface plasmons on a gold film in the Kretschmann configuration have shown what appears to be a superconductive effect. Researchers claimed to see the existence of electron pairing during scattering as well as magnetic field repulsion while twisting the polarization of the laser. In an attempt to explain this, they pointed to a combination of electron-electron scattering in external fields as well as dynamic screening via intense laser radiation. Th… more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Lanier, Steven t
open access

Fabrication of Photonic Crystal Templates through Holographic Lithography and Study of their Optical and Plasmonic Properties in Aluminium Doped Zinc Oxide

Description: This dissertation focuses on two aspects of integrating near-infrared plasmonics with electronics with the intent of developing the platform for future photonics. The first aspect focuses on fabrication by introducing and developing a simple, single reflective optical element capable of high–throughput, large scale fabrication of micro- and nano-sized structure templates using holographic lithography. This reflective optical element is then utilized to show proof of concept in fabricating thre… more
Date: August 2017
Creator: George, David Ray
open access

EEG, Alpha Waves and Coherence

Description: This thesis addresses some theoretical issues generated by the results of recent analysis of EEG time series proving the brain dynamics are driven by abrupt changes making them depart from the ordinary Poisson condition. These changes are renewal, unpredictable and non-ergodic. We refer to them as crucial events. How is it possible that this form of randomness be compatible with the generation of waves, for instance alpha waves, whose observation seems to suggest the opposite view the brain is … more
Date: May 2010
Creator: Ascolani, Gianluca
open access

Application of Statistical Physics in Human Physiology: Heart-Brain Dynamics

Description: This dissertation is devoted to study of complex systems in human physiology particularly heartbeats and brain dynamics. We have studied the dynamics of heartbeats that has been a subject of investigation of two independent groups. The first group emphasized the multifractal nature of the heartbeat dynamics of healthy subjects, whereas the second group had established a close connection between healthy subjects and the occurrence of crucial events. We have analyzed the same set of data and esta… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Bohara, Gyanendra
open access

Fractional Calculus and Dynamic Approach to Complexity

Description: Fractional calculus enables the possibility of using real number powers or complex number powers of the differentiation operator. The fundamental connection between fractional calculus and subordination processes is explored and affords a physical interpretation for a fractional trajectory, that being an average over an ensemble of stochastic trajectories. With an ensemble average perspective, the explanation of the behavior of fractional chaotic systems changes dramatically. Before now what ha… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Beig, Mirza Tanweer Ahmad
open access

Nonlinear and Quantum Optics Near Nanoparticles

Description: We study the behavior of electric fields in and around dielectric and metal nanoparticles, and prepare the ground for their applications to a variety of systems viz. photovoltaics, imaging and detection techniques, and molecular spectroscopy. We exploit the property of nanoparticles being able to focus the radiation field into small regions and study some of the interesting nonlinear, and quantum coherence and interference phenomena near them. The traditional approach to study the nonlinear lig… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Dhayal, Suman
open access

A Precise Few-nucleon Size Difference by Isotope Shift Measurements of Helium

Description: We perform high precision measurements of an isotope shift between the two stable isotopes of helium. We use laser excitation of the 2^3 S_1-2^3 P_0 transition at 1083 nm in a metastable beam of 3He and 4He atoms. A newly developed tunable laser frequency selector along with our previous electro-optic frequency modulation technique provides extremely reliable, adaptable, and precise frequency and intensity control. The intensity control contributes negligibly to overall experimental uncertai… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: Hassan Rezaeian, Nima
open access

Exploring Growth Kinematics and Tuning Optical and Electronic Properties of Indium Antimonide Nanowires

Description: This dissertation work is a study of the growth kinematics, synthesis strategies and intrinsic properties of InSb nanowires (NWs). The highlights of this work include a study of the effect of the growth parameters on the composition and crystallinity of NWs. A change in the temperature ramp-up rate as the substrate was heated to reach the NW growth temperature resulted in NWs that were either crystalline or amorphous. The as-grown NWs were found to have very different optical and electrical pro… more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Algarni, Zaina Sluman
open access

Electrically Tunable Absorption and Perfect Absorption Using Aluminum-Doped Zinc Oxide and Graphene Sandwiched in Oxides

Description: Understanding the fundamental physics in light absorption and perfect light absorption is vital for device applications in detector, sensor, solar energy harvesting and imaging. In this research study, a large area fabrication of Al-doped ZnO/Al2O3/graphene/Al2O3/gold/silicon device was enabled by a spin-processable hydrophilic mono-layer graphene oxide. In contrast to the optical properties of noble metals, which cannot be tuned or changed, the permittivity of transparent metal oxides, such a… more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Adewole, Murthada Oladele
open access

Quantum Coherence Effects Coupled via Plasmons

Description: This thesis is an attempt at studying quantum coherence effects coupled via plasmons. After introducing the quantum coherence in atomic systems in Chapter 1, we utilize it in Chapter 2 to demonstrate a new technique of detection of motion of single atoms or irons inside an optical cavity. By taking into account the interaction of coherences with surface plasmonic waves excited in metal nanoparticles, we provide a theoretical model along with experimental data in Chapter 3 to describe the modifi… more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Moazzezi, Mojtaba
open access

Fabrication and Study of the Optical Properties of 3D Photonic Crystals and 2D Graded Photonic Super-Crystals

Description: In this dissertation, I am presenting my research on the fabrication and simulation of the optical properties of 3D photonic crystals and 2D graded photonic super-crystals. The 3D photonic crystals were fabricated using holographic lithography with a single, custom-built reflective optical element (ROE) and single exposure from a visible light laser. Fully 3D photonic crystals with 4-fold, 5- fold, and 6-fold symmetries were fabricated using the flexible, 3D printed ROE. In addition, novel 2D g… more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Lowell, David
open access

Complex Numbers in Quantum Theory

Description: In 1927, Nobel prize winning physicist, E. Schrodinger, in correspondence with Ehrenfest, wrote the following about the new theory: “What is unpleasant here, and indeed directly to be objected to, is the use of complex numbers. Psi is surely fundamentally a real function.” This seemingly simple issue remains unexplained almost ninety years later. In this dissertation I elucidate the physical and theoretical origins of the complex requirement. I identify a freedom/constraint situation encoun… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: Maynard, Glenn
open access

Cooperation-induced Criticality in Neural Networks

Description: The human brain is considered to be the most complex and powerful information-processing device in the known universe. The fundamental concepts behind the physics of complex systems motivate scientists to investigate the human brain as a collective property emerging from the interaction of thousand agents. In this dissertation, I investigate the emergence of cooperation-induced properties in a system of interacting units. I demonstrate that the neural network of my research generates a series o… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Zare, Marzieh
open access

Effects of Quantum Coherence and Interference

Description: Quantum coherence and interference (QCI) is a phenomenon that takes place in all multi-level atomic systems interacting with multiple lasers. In this work QCI is used to create several interesting effects like lasing without inversion (LWI), controlling group velocity of light to extreme values, controlling the direction of propagation through non-linear phase matching condition and for controlling the correlations in field fluctuations. Controlling group velocity of light is very interesting b… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Davuluri, Subrahmanya Bhima Sankar
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