2011 Summer Physics Research Program at Rowan University. Karen Magee-Sauer Department of Physics & Astronomy

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1 2011 Summer Physics Research Program at Rowan University Karen Magee-Sauer Department of Physics & Astronomy 2011 Mid-Atlantic Space Grant Meeting, November 2-4, 2011

2 About Rowan: ~20 minutes south east of Philadelphia ~10,000 undergraduate students Colleges: Business, Communications, Education, Engineering, Fine & Performing Arts, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Graduate & Continuing Education, Medicine (2012) The Gift In 1992, Henry & Betty Rowan donated $100 million dollars Transformative gift Physics & Astronomy ~115 majors (15 women, 100 men, ~17% under-represented) 10 full time faculty, 3 Visiting Professors, 1 Post-doctoral Fellow,1 Teaching Lab coordinator, 1 Research Lab coordinator, Planetarium Director

3 Rowan Physics Research facilities include: Magnetics lab Physical Properties lab Thin Film Fabrication lab Microscopy lab Biomedical Physics lab Laser Cooling & Spectroscopy lab Computational Physics lab Astronomy and Astrophysics lab

4 Summer Research Program in Physics 18 students participated (initial plan was 10) 8-10 week programs (15 students) 6 week programs (3 students) 10 week program: Students work 30 hrs/week and are paid $12/hr for a total of $3600 per student or 6 week program: 40 hrs/week and are paid $12/hr for a total of $2880 No housing allowance, but employee rate for dorms ($10/day) No meal plan NJSG $18,000 Department Operational WS $8,500 Department CGCE incentive $14,000 Government/Industry Grants $20,000

5 Research Groups Dr. Jeff Hettinger: Thin Films, Biomedical applications 4 students Dr. Sam Lofland: Magnetic Properties of Materials 4 students Dr. Tabbetha Dobbins: Biomedical Physics 3 students Dr. Michael Lim: Laser Cooling 2 students Dr. Eduardo Flores: Theoretical Physics 1 student Dr. Hong Ling: Theoretical Quantum Optics 1 student Dr. David Klassen: Planetary Science 3 students Dr. Tatjana Miletic: Experimental Neutrino Physics 1 student

6 Dr. Jeff Hettinger Thin Films Condensed Matter and Biomedical Physics Sputtering of Thin Films: Students were able to develop a process for sputtering highly textured Cr2AlC film on various substrates These materials have applications as protective coatings, low friction electrical contacts and as precursor materials for carbide-derive-carbon films which will be used for on-chip supercapacitor applications. Transmission Electron Microscopy: The S. Aureus images suggest that a bacterium can be imaged by TEM. Treated bacteria are dead and have bright centers which indicate that they are transparent to electrons since the contents of the bacterium cell as been expelled through damage to the cell wall. The untreated bacteria are more opaque indicating that their contents are still in-tact.

7 Zach Buck sputtering diamond-likecarbon/chromium multilayers for x-ray reflectivity measurements investigating solid state reactions at interfaces between layers. SEM image

8 Tyler Donato using a transmission electron microscope to image S. Aureus bacteria extracted from various Ag-containing solutions. Staph in Saline Buffer + Silver diameter -.417um 20k mag Application: synthesizing bactericidal films onto biomedical implant materials. Staph in Glucose Buffer + Silver 20k mag diameter um

9 Dr. Tabbetha Dobbins Biomedical Physics Smart-design of Tunable Nanomaterials for Enhancing Radiation Therapy Materials Synthesis and Characterization AuNPs made at Rowan Design of Nanomaterial for interaction with The Cell Students working the project summer 12 Yoshi Araki (AuNPs for radiation therapy & CNTs) Frank Holder (Barium Hexaferrite) Adam Stefankiewicz (AuNPs for cell activity) Magnetic nanoparticles to cross the cell wall Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for assessing cell metabolic function and for radiation therapy. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for drug delivery.

10 Dr. Michael Lim Laser Cooling Development of a narrow bandwidth, tunable, high power continuous wave (cw) ring laser based on a tapered semiconductor amplifier

11 Dr. Sam Lofland Magnetic Properties Lab

12 Student projects: Dorrell and Bonini - (Magnetoelastic cantilevers for energy harvesting) They have been designing a customized board with high-speed digital and analog I/O to investigate laminated magnetostrictive/piezoelectric cantilevers for scavenging ambient mechanical and electromagnetic noise to power small devices. Kassner and Rieger (Symmetry breaking in the design of new magnetorheological elastomers (MREs)) They have been designing and investigating new types of MREs for use in vibration damping, control systems, and transduction. Dara (Measurement of materials with ultra-low thermal conductivity) Tom has been designing a new instrument to measure the thermal conductivity of anisotropic aerogels which have enhanced structural integrity yet extremely small thermal conductance

13 Dr. Hong Ling Theoretical Quantum Optics The enhancement of p-wave superfluid by mixing Fermi gases of different species in different dimensions. The critical temperature for achieving p-wave superfluid in a singlecomponent Fermi quantum gas is typically too low to be accessible to the current technology. The student project reviewed and investigated a new way to achieve p-wave superfluid.

14 Dr. Eduardo Flores Theoretical Physics Sonoluminescence (generation of light from sound) Project was to develop a model of why a bubble trapped in water generates light from sound Project to physically reproduce sonoluminescence and to build a realistic model of sonoluminescence by an excited vacuum. Fig. Quantum vacuum inside a 1-D cavity with an oscillating wall. The wall has a sinusoidal oscillation. The vacuum field is disturbed.

15 Dr. David Klassen Planetary Science Processing and Analysis of ground-based NIR Spectral Images of Mars Students learned image analysis: calibration, co-registration and cylindrical remapping, Principle Component Analysis (PCA) analysis for cloud searching on Mars

16 Dr. Tatjana Miletic, Visiting Professor Experimental Neutrino Physics Double Chooz neutrino experiment See Front End Electronics production at Drexel Front End Electronics testing at Rowan Research projects: Photomultiplier tube testing Testing bench setting and testing of spare boards

17 Success: Strengthened the sense of community Students more qualified for graduate study in physics and engineering Gives them attractive experience for industry Students will present their research at APS meetings this spring Provides a meaningful academic experience over the summer Future Plans: 2012 Summer Program: As big as we can afford Exchange with other NJSG consortia members?

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