This thesis will cover work that I have completed relating to the field of terahertz (THz) science. My work has consisted of generating tunable, narrowband THz pulses in a table-top optical setup and using both narrow- and broadband THz pulses to study various material systems. Broadband THz pulses were used...
The development and some applications of holographic optical tweezers (HOT) are presented. Our HOT system uses a spatial light modulator (SLM) to control the location and properties of the optical trap. We have developed a method for optimizing the diffraction efficiency of a SLM that can be applied in situ...
Ab initio calculations using the B3LYP and CCSD(T) methods were employed in this work to explore the most stable structure of the intriguing compound Be(BH₄)₂, for which as many as seven different structures have been proposed in the literature. Use of the B3LYP density functional method with several large basis...
Steady flow fields and flow-induced wall stresses have been evaluated by experimental measurements and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis in a series of patient-specific abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) models, over a range of Reynolds numbers (Re) from 125 to 3000 (500 to 3000 for CFD). Experimental methods used particle image...
Fast neutron detection is important to the detection of illicit nuclear materials and can help prevent those materials from being used or transported without discovery. Previous research has shown that Heavy Oxide Inorganic Scintillator crystals can be used to detect fast neutrons by capitalizing on their high inelastic scattering cross...
This thesis presents the results from Monte Carlo calculations on classical vector spins in
face-centered-cubic (FCC) lattices. The goal of the study was to understand the effect of
interlayer coupling, dilution of magnetic atoms in the lattice, and symmetry-changing
strain.
Experimental work by T. M. Giebultowicz et al. and J....
Bee populations are declining around the globe, while the need for their pollination services is increasing with growing food demands by an expanding population. There is a need for innovative practices to increase pollination in agricultural environments without harming wild bee populations. However, the use of artificial visual attractants has...
BaCuChF (Ch = S, Se, Te) materials are chalcogen-based transparent conductors with wide optical band gaps (2.9 – 3.5 eV) and a high concentration of free holes (10¹⁸ – 10²⁰ cm⁻³) caused by the presence of copper vacancies. Chalcogen vacancies compensate copper vacancies in these materials, setting the Fermi level...
In this dissertation, I describe the experimental investigation of large superfluid helium droplets. The goal and direction of this thesis is to facilitate the use of these droplets as part of our project ss-EDI. The overall scheme of ss-EDI is to dope proteins inside helium droplets and collect a diffraction...
The optical response of metallic structures is dominated by the dynamics of their free electron plasma. Plasmonics, the area of optics specializing in the electromagnetic behavior of heterogeneous structures with metallic inclusions, is undergoing rapid development, fueled in part by recent progress in experimental fabrication techniques and novel
theoretical approaches....