Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2010 Annual Meeting of the California-Nevada Section of the APS
Volume 55, Number 12
Friday–Saturday, October 29–30, 2010; Pasadena, California
Session H2: Applied Physics |
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Chair: Warren Rogers, Westmont College Room: Building 33 - East Bridge Physics Lecture Hall, Room 201 |
Saturday, October 30, 2010 1:00PM - 1:12PM |
H2.00001: Ocean Water Column Probing Using LIDAR Sam Meijer, Thomas Bensky California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo operates a 1-km research pier extending due south over San Luis Obispo Bay, on the central coast of California, equidistant from both Los Angeles and San Francisco. The pier is situated 25 feet above the ocean surface where the water is approximately 30 feet deep. We have constructed a LIDAR station here that fires 10-ns, 1-Watt, 532-nm pulses from a YAG laser directly into the water at 20 Hz. A single photon detector placed near the laser aperture feeds a histogramming picosecond time analyzer that logs the return times of photons only at this wavelength. After a strong surface return, we observe photon return events that span a time interval corresponding to the maximum possible distance a photon can traverse in traveling from the laser to the ocean bottom and back to the detector. In estimating return signal strengths, the amount of laser light reflected from the ocean floor is an important parameter. To measure this, we have constructed a ``benthic reflectometer'' that, when lowered near the ocean floor, will allow for determination of the reflected light intensity from the floor itself. In this presentation we will report on photon return event spectra, benthic reflectance measurements and future plans. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 30, 2010 1:12PM - 1:24PM |
H2.00002: Variation in the Fine Structure Constant Jonathan Whitmore There have been claimed detections of a change in the value of the fine-structure constant using measurements made with quasar absorption lines using both the Keck-HIRES and VLT-UVES spectrographs. If the fine-structure constant had a different value, the relative spacings will change in differing ways depending on both the species of atom and the particular atomic transition due to higher order relativistic effects. For spectrographs to make measurements of these small shifts requires very accurate wavelength calibration over large wavelength ranges. After developing a method to check the wavelength calibration of the spectrographs, we uncovered calibration problems with the standard way that the spectrographs are used for detecting quasar absorption lines. The systematic errors were found at both Keck and VLT and were of the same order as the effect that a changing fine-structure constant would produce. I will provide a background for the physics of how a different fine-structure constant would change the energy level spacings of atoms, as well as the most recent implications this systematic error would have to the claimed detection of a changing fine-structure constant. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 30, 2010 1:24PM - 1:36PM |
H2.00003: Increasing Transport Efficiencies of Polymer Based Solar Cells by Electrophoresis Terrence Wong Organic polymer photovoltaic (PV) cells are an active area of Applied Physics research because of four unique characteristics: (1) relatively inexpensive costs, (2) transparent properties, (3) flexibility, and (4) ease of mass production. We are studying the effects of incorporating single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNs) into a mixture of poly-(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), to test the affects on transport characteristics. The experiment will be segregated into parallel trials, with fixed volume ratios of P3HT:SWCNs to test the effects of (1) random orientation of SWCNs or the control, and (2) an aligned orientation of SWCNs. An electrophoresis-based technique, similar to gel electrophoresis, used to separate DNA fragments of variable masses, is used for partial alignment of the SWCN. Fixed geometry metalized substrates in a four striped copper patternare used for the transport studies and the P3HT:SWCN film's resistivity is monitored in-situ. The oriented films show enhanced conductivity, indicating this plays a major role in the increased efficiencies found in P3HT:SWCN based polymer solar cells. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 30, 2010 1:36PM - 1:48PM |
H2.00004: Fabrication and Outdoor Testing of Organic Luminescent Solar Concentrators for Photovoltaics Chunhua Wang, Weiya Zhang, Lun Jiang, Roland Winston The cost of photovoltaic power can be reduced with organic luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs). These are planar waveguides with organic dyes cast inside and inorganic photovoltaic solar cells attached to the edges. This is the only known solar concentrator that can achieve high concentration without tracking the Sun. We report the outdoor performance of these LSCs with a 4x electrical gain. We also test their performance with optimization methods: (1) Attaching a white and black diffuser at the bottom of the LSCs, (2) adding optical refractive index matched gel between the LSC edges and the PV cells surface for stacked LSCs. The performance of LSCs as windows on cloudy and sunny days is also analyzed. The results show that they can perform very well for both direct and diffuse light. The LSCs can be applied as ``smart'' windows by integrating into buildings to collect and convert solar energy into electrical power with the function of normal windows. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 30, 2010 1:48PM - 2:00PM |
H2.00005: Frequency-divide-and-conquer approach to creating frequency combs in the infrared K. Vodopyanov, N. Leindecker, A. Marandi, R. Byer, V. Pervak The technique of optical Frequency Combs - a broadband series of some million sharp equidistant phase-locked frequency spikes from mode-locked femtosecond lasers - has revolutionized optical frequency metrology and led to creation of optical atomic clocks. Also, frequency combs opened new capabilities in molecular spectroscopy since they provide a unique combination of large wavelength coverage, high spectral resolution, and the ability of parallel spectral data acquisition. Practical comb sources based on Ti:sapphire, Yb- and Er- fiber lasers, are limited to the near-IR spectral region, $\lambda <$ 2 $\mu $m, while to take the full advantage of frequency combs for molecular spectroscopy, one would need operation at longer ( $>$ 2.5 $\mu $m) wavelengths, that is in the region of fundamental rotational-vibrational absorption bands. Here we implement a new approach for creating broadband mid-infrared frequency combs based on a subharmonic optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The source conveniently down converts the frequency comb of an erbium fiber laser with a center wavelength of 1560nm and produces a 2/3-octaves-wide frequency comb centered at $\lambda $ = 3.1 $\mu $m with 40{\%} quantum efficiency. The frequency comb is phase-locked to the pump laser and has other remarkable coherence properties which we studied by interfering the outputs of two identical OPOs pumped by the same laser. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 30, 2010 2:00PM - 2:12PM |
H2.00006: Determination of Verdet Constants of Organic Laser Dyes in Ethanol Zhenyu Chen, Serkan Zorba Organic laser dyes are indespensible for dye lasers which are used to obtain unpolarized and polarized light. Verdet constant is a measure of the amount of~rotation of polarization direction of light under the application of an external magnetic field. We have measured Verdet constants of various laser dyes diluted in ethanol as a function of concentration. The Verdet constants approached that of ethanol with dilution but with a small upward systematic shift of 0.15 rad/Tm above the value measured for ethanol which is 2.85 rad/Tm. The reason for the upward systematic error is due to our reuse of the glass cells for different dyes, which in turn left a residue on the walls of the cell which we could not totally remove. This upward systematic shift is used to correct the measured values. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 30, 2010 2:12PM - 2:24PM |
H2.00007: Bremsstrahlung Measurements of the Properties of Laser-Generated Hot Electrons for Fast Ignition Cliff Chen, B. Westover, F.N. Beg, J.R. Davies, R. Fedosjevs, R.R. Freeman, H. Friesen, M.H. Key, K. Li, A. Link, H. McLean, A. Morace, V. Ovchinnikov, P.K. Patel, Y. Ping, H. Sawada, A. Sorokovikova, R. Stephens, M. Streeter, L. Van Woerkom, D. Wertepny, S.C. Wilks The laser to hot electron coupling efficiency, divergence angle, and spectrum are the key parameters for evaluating whether a compressed fusion capsule will ignite under the Fast Ignition scheme for Inertial Confinement Fusion. These properties were studied on the Titan laser (1054 nm, 150 J, 0.7 ps, 10$^{20}$ W/cm$^2$) at LLNL using an array of absolutely calibrated Bremsstrahlung spectrometers (differential sensitivity up to 700 keV) measuring emission from planar multilayer foil and cone-foil targets. A HOPG crystal spectrometer was also used to measure the line emission from buried flours. The electron transport and x-ray emission is modeled with the Monte Carlo code ITS 3.0 and the hybrid-PIC code LSP LLNL-ABS-45809 [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 30, 2010 2:24PM - 2:36PM |
H2.00008: Unleashing the Quark within: LENR, Klein-Gordon Equation, and Elementary Particle Physics Florentin Smarandache, V. Christianto Recently we've read that there is an excellent Cold Fusion experiment performed by Prof. Arata, showing that the promise of CF/LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reaction) is rekindled. With regards to this experiment, in our opinion part of the problem is to explain how the Intra-atomic interactions happen in low temperature. A hint on this issue is that perhaps what we know about QM is flawed under the fact of antihydrogen (see Van Hoydoonk's work). And considering topological quantization, then can we expect to observe Bohr- Sommerfeld quantization inside the quarks too? [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 30, 2010 2:36PM - 2:48PM |
H2.00009: A Viable Paradigm for Quantum Reality Jagdish Srivastava After a brief discussion of the EPR paradox, Bell's inequality, and Aspect's experiment, arguments will be presented in favor of the following statements: ``As it stands, Quantum mechanics is incomplete. There is further hidden structure, which would involve variables. No influence can move faster than light. The wave function is one whole thing and any change in its structure instantly influences its outcomes. Bell's theorem has not been applied correctly. There is a better paradigm.'' The said paradigm will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
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