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...
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...
We present an analysis of the relationship between spectral lag and luminosity in time-resolved segments of long gamma-ray bursts detected by BATSE, an experiment aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory satellite. For full bursts, there is a well-established correlation between the lag, which is easily computed, and the total burst...
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...
Current methods in traction force analysis rely on a homogeneous extra-cellular matrix and
embedded microbeads to track deformations. The efficacy of these methods decreases when the matrix is not homogeneous. In heterogeneous matrices, beads often aggregate in regions of higher matrix density and float in regions where matrix substrate is...
High field time-domain terahertz spectroscopy (TDS) is used to determine the time dependent transmission and the time-delay and optical-power dependent conductivity of a wafer of gallium arsenide (GaAs). Gallium arsenide is a direct band-gap semiconductor and has potential as a computer processor component. Analysis of the transmission of terahertz (THz)...