The Laser Spectroscopy Group involves several undergraduate students in various research activities. These activities can be part of an honors thesis, an independent research project, or a paid internship. The projects encourage students to conduct independent work on fundamental research related to the optical properties of materials. In the 2012-2013 academic year, the group’s activities included the following students and their projects:
- Malcolm Eaton (class of 2013): Software Communication with EG&G 5206 Lock In Analyzer. Malcolm developed a LabVIEW program to allow us to control some of the lab equipment with the computer.
- Yohannes Tsehay (class of 2014): Energy Transfer in Pr-doped CaTiO3 Powders under UV Excitation. Yohannes conducted experiments on the luminescence properties of Pr-doped calcium titanate nano-crystals in the temperature region between 7K and 300K. Some of his results were presented the Meeting of the Electrochemical Society in October, 2012.
- Shereen Velupillai (class of 2015): Energy Transfer in Pr-doped CaTiO3 Powders under UV Excitation and Temperature Effects on the Luminescence from Pr-doped LiNbO3 Single Crystals. Shereen worked on these two projects this year. She is studying the LiNbO3:Pr system during her summer 2013 research in the Laser Spectroscopy Lab.
- Kening Zhao (class of 2015): A Q-switched Nd:YAG Laser. In this project, Kening constructed several versions of a Nd:YAG laser, from a simple oscillator to the Q-switched system with 0.4 Joules of energy being delivered in 20 ns.
- Katrina Dauphinais (class of 2016): Temperature Effects on the Luminescence from Pr-doped LiNbO3 Single Crystals. Katrina is studying the LiNbO3:Pr system as part of her summer 2013 research in the Laser Spectroscopy Lab.
Welcome
We are a research group in the Physics Department of Wheaton College under the direction of Professor John Collins.
