The goal of this research is to determine whether x-ray diffraction (XRD) is a viable method for resolving ZnS thin films on Si substrates. The samples are ZnS thin films of thickness between 50nm and 100nm, on Si substrates that are 0.5mm thick.
ZnS and Si have nearly identical lattice...
Mixed anion compounds that form ZrCuSiAs-type crystal structures exhibit remarkable properties such as superconductivity at low temperatures,
hole conduction with optical transparency in the visible region, and exciton absorption at room temperature. In this thesis, properties of a selected group of materials out of the very large set of mixed...
Due to the colloquial and adaptive nature of jazz, not much is known about the process of how a jazz piece is composed. Often, pieces that were not intended for jazz performance are adopted by jazz musicians; those who compose jazz are almost always performers, as they focus their explanation...
The addition of a weather ballooning program at Western Oregon University creates research opportunities for the Science Department, allows for projects in professional development for in-service teachers, fosters a partnership with Oregon Space Grant, and creates another option for students participating in the Program for Undergraduate Research Experiences. As the...
String theory, one of the more popular approaches to quantizing gravity, is a highly complex
theory, involving high level mathematics and physics. But the basic ideas of string theory are not inaccessible, even to the undergraduate. This document acts as report to my thesis project, the writing of A Detailed...
Learning about periodic and oscillatory systems is a huge step in an undergraduate's
comprehensive understanding of physics and complex systems such as solids. However,
understanding how specific changes to such a system affect aspects of the entire system can
be difficult. The goal of this study is to create a...
Thermal transport properties of a material are often difficult to measure, especially for
thin films, but they are important for materials that have applications in modern devices,
such as nano-scale electronics, thermoelectrics, and thermally resistive coatings. In this
thesis, we describe an apparatus developed to measure the thermal conductivity of...
BiCuOSe and SnS are layered, moderate band gap (ε[subscript G] ≈ 1 eV) semiconductors that exhibit intrinsic p type conductivity. Doping of BiCuOSe with Ca results in a slight expansion of the lattice and an increase of the hole concentration from 10¹⁸ cm⁻³ to greater than 10²⁰ cm⁻³. The large...
This investigation expands on earlier methods of using surface polarization reflection (SPR) to characterize the first few monolayers of a surface. Past research measured intensities of light reflecting off an SiO₂ optical flat inside a vacuum. Pressure of applied gas was changed to view a change in reflection. In an...
Optical trapping is a tool used throughout a wide variety of disciplines rang- ing from precisely probing and manipulating sub-micron organisms in biol- ogy to analyzing fundamental charge transfer in colloidal physics. This thesis presents research involving optical tweezer force measurements of polystyrene and silica microspheres. In addition, preliminary work...