My work

sample work and experiences

Physics

Sample work in the field of physics

Case Western Reserve University

These are some sample physics lab reports completed during my junior and senior years at CWRU. Figures and data analysis were done using the Python libraries NumPy, SciPy and Matplotlib.

Germanium and silicon energy band structures. Image: after Sze S. M., <i>Physics of Semiconductor Devices</i>

Measurement of the band gaps of silicon and germanium

The band gaps of silicon and germanium were measured using the reverse saturation currents of BJTs as a function of temperature from -15°C to 22°C.

Full text (469 KiB)

Heat capacity of gadolinium at constant pressure as a function of temperature. Data from M. Griffel, R. E. Skochdopole, F. H. Spedding, <i>Phys. Rev.</i> <b>93</b> (4), 657 (1954).

Measurement of the specific heat capacity of gadolinium

The specific heat capacity of the ferromagnetic material gadolinum was measured as a function of temperature through its ferromagnetic phase transition.

Full text (372 KiB)

Photon and electron energies as a function of photon scatter angle for a 662 keV incident photon.

Measurement of the Compton wavelength of the electron

A Compton spectrometer was used to measure the recoil electron energy as a function of γ-ray scattering angle for an incident beam of 662 keV gamma rays.

Full text (667 KiB)

Cavendish apparatus for measuring the gravitational constant. Image: Connexions

Measurement of the gravitational constant

The universal gravitational constant was measured using a torsion balance. Manual and automated methods were used to determine the terminal angle and period of the oscillations, from which the gravitational constant was calculated.

Full text (354 KiB)

Electric field lines of a real parallel plate capacitor. Image: Greiner W., <i>Classical Electrodynamics</i>

Measurement of electric potential fields

The electric potential for four separate two-dimensional configurations of conductors was measured in a homogenous, conductive medium and compared to the theoretical solution. A numerical relaxation method was also used to compare the measured potential.

Full text (1.46 MiB)

Energy level diagram of the neutral mercury atom. More intense spectral lines have wavelengths shown in units of Ångströms. Image: J. Stoltenberg, D. Pengra, and R. Van Dyck at the University of Washington

Thermionic emission and Frank-Hertz oscillations

The work function of a tungsten filament was measured using thermionic emission; the anode IV characteristic of a vacuum tube filled with mercury vapor was used to determine the atomic excitation energy of mercury.

Full text (507 KiB)

Geometry for measuring attenuation coefficients. Image: MIT OCW

Measurement of photon mass attenuation coefficients

The photon mass attenuation coefficient was measured for aluminum, copper and lead absorbers as a function of γ-ray energy from 31 keV to 1.332 MeV.

Full text (574 KiB)

Purdue University

Some work I did during my Purdue Physics REU

SWORD background

Modeling Liquid Noble Gas Scintillation Detectors

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I presented a poster at the DNDO-NSF Academic Research Initiative Grantees Conference in Leesburg, VA about the use of SWORD to simulate a liquid krypton scintillation detector.

Poster (915 KiB)

Total output charge between two coincident detectors in a 50% krypton, 50% xenon gas mixture with two different α-particle sources.

Coincident detector pulse measurements

A method for measuring and analyzing detector output signals was used in a simple xenon/krypton gas chamber setup with two different α-particle sources and two Hamamatsu PMTs in coincidence.

Publication preparations and editing

I helped create and modify several figures and tables as well as check formatting and style in two publications by my mentor, Dr. Koltick. The publications are:

Computing

Some work that I have done with computer hardware and software

Personal

Geometric representation of a complex number and its conjugate. Image: By Oleg Alexandrov [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)]

ComplexNumber

ComplexNumber is a free and open source C++ template class with operator overloading and elementary mathematical functions.

Download (124 KiB) Documentation

IdealGasSim

IdealGasSim is an ideal gas simulator written in C++ that uses the Bullet physics library. It could use some more work if I get time.

BoxLogix Automation

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My main project while I was at BoxLogix was to create a CRM software and SQL database backend. During this time, I learned the C# programming language and how to create and interface with the Microsoft SQL and PostgreSQL RDBMS.

Pyramid Controls

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I had an opportunity to work in the field at a distribution center for Cabela's, where their tilt-tray sorter was being upgraded and repaired. I tested electrical connections and verified that I/O components were functioning as expected in the system.