The Brain Research through Advanced Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative seeks to understand how ensembles of neurons create neural networks. The initiative has spurred the pursuit of developing novel experimental tools for investigating how individual neurons propagate electrical signals (action potentials) to produce ensemble behavior. Classical techniques to measure the internal...
This dissertation is an exploration of the material response to Terahertz (THz) radiation. Specifically we will explore the ultrafast electron dynamics in the nonperturbative regime in semiconductors that have been patterned with nanoantenna arrays using broadband, high intensity, THz radiation. Three main semiconductor materials will be studied in this work....
This dissertation presents nonlinear terahertz (THz) properties of carbon nanomaterials investigated by time-resolved high-field THz spectroscopy. In order to determine THz characteristics of nanomaterials, we performed THz power spectrum measurement, THz raster imaging, THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) and time-resolved pump-probe experiment on two different types of single layer graphene and...
Production of Kþ mesons in charged-current νμ interactions on plastic scintillator (CH) is measured using MINERvA exposed to the low-energy NuMI beam at Fermilab. Timing information is used to isolate a sample of 885 charged-current events containing a stopping Kþ which decays at rest. The differential cross section in Kþ...
The double slit experiment provides a classic example of both interference and the effect of observation in quantum physics. When particles are sent individually through a pair of slits, a wave-like interference pattern develops, but no such interference is found when one observes which “path” the particles take. We present...
Cells in three-dimensional (3D) environments exhibit very different biochemical and biophysical phenotypes compared to the behavior of cells in two-dimensional (2D) environments. As an important biomechanical measurement, 2D traction force microscopy can not be directly extended into 3D cases. In order to quantitatively characterize the contraction field, we have developed...
Mathematical sophistication increases rapidly as students transition from lower- to upper-division physics courses. Complex algebra is one of the mathematical tools that is not introduced or used in lower-division physics courses but is pervasive throughout upper-division courses. In this dissertation, I study middle-division physics students' developing fluency with complex number...
We construct a Monte Carlo simulation in Python to calculate optical flashes at 5x10¹⁴ Hz peaking at 6x10³¹ erg s⁻¹Hz⁻¹St⁻¹ due to synchrotron radiation from the reverse shock of a gamma-ray burst’s jet. While analytical solutions to this problem exist, they rely on sweeping simplifications of what is necessarily a...
Quantum yield is an important, characteristic quantity to be measured for fluorescent compounds. Here, a comparative method between fluorescent compounds in solution is applied to measure unknown quantum yields. An absorption spectrometer was used to measure the absorbances of two different fluorescent quantum yield standards. The integrated fluorescence intensities were...
Crystal morphology and dimensionality of single-crystal semiconducting materials can have dramatic effects on the optical and electrical properties. Organic photovoltaic (OPV) materials and fluorinated graphene folds are two materials that show these dependencies. Anthradithiophene (ADT), is an OPV that can be functionalized with different side groups to form different crystal...