Undergraduate Research Profiles

Below, you can read the profiles of a couple University of Chicago physics majors who have been active in research. A few past profiles are archived here. Enjoy…

michael Michael Baumer

Undergraduate Student: Class of 2012
Major: Physics, Mathematics
Hometown: Belleville, IL
Awards (HS): National Physics Bowl 2nd place, National Merit Finalist
Awards (Univ): Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, Phi Beta Kappa, Student Marshal, Grainger Senior Scholarship (physics)
Research: Detector Physics, Fluid Dynamics, High-energy Physics
Research Advisors: Henry Frisch, N. Mujica (UChile), Frank Merritt

During the summer after my first year, I worked on the Picosecond Timing Project, whose goal since then has been to develop time-of-flight (TOF) particle detectors with one picosecond (that’s a millionth of a millionth of a second) of timing resolution. Such detectors have a wide range of possible applications ranging from particle physics to national security. One of the most promising is in medical imaging, where precision TOF detectors will enable PET (positron emission tomography) images of cancerous tumors to reach unprecedented levels of detail.

As my contribution to this project, I worked closely with the Electronics Design Group (EDG) here at the University of Chicago to design and test analog electronic components for the detector’s readout system. TOF detectors work by using the photoelectric effect to convert incoming particles into showers of electrons, which my boards collected and delivered to our digitizing chip while minimizing signal degradation. After designing the boards, I tested several prototypes using EDG’s ultrafast oscilloscopes and presented my results at Argonne National Laboratory.

The following summer I went on a research exchange to Santiago, Chile through the Chicago-Chile Materials Collaboration. I worked in University of Chile’s non-linear physics laboratory under Prof. Nicolás Mujica on an experiment investigating highly turbulent fluid flow. The experiment was non-functional when I arrived, but over the summer I got to practice my Spanish by buying parts and soliciting advice from auto shops around Santiago to fix and recalibrate the apparatus. I then spent several weeks collecting and analyzing data, which culminated in producing detailed bifurcation diagrams, plots characterizing the system’s chaotic behavior.

After I returned from Chile, I joined Frank Merritt on the ATLAS experiment, one of the two large experimental collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located in Geneva, Switzerland at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Our research has been largely focused on diboson production at the LHC, a relatively rare process occurring when high-energy proton-proton collisions create a pair of associated W or Z bosons (heavy fundamental particles). These events are important not only because they contain clues to the existence (or absence) of the Higgs boson or super-symmetric particles, but also because Fermilab’s Tevatron, due to its lower energy and luminosity capabilities, was relatively insensitive to normal (“Standard Model”) production of boson pairs. For this reason, the significantly more powerful LHC provides the first opportunity to probe these important phenomena in detail.

As a part of this work, I spent the past summer in residence at CERN, collaborating with international scientists on searching for and characterizing these diboson events. We are currently working toward a measurement of the diboson cross-section (precise rate of diboson production) in final states with two leptons (electrons or muons) and two jets (quarks). I plan to continue this research for the remainder of my time here, aiming toward my senior honors thesis in the spring.

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lisa Lisa Pawlowicz

Undergraduate Student: Class of 2012
Major: Physics
Minor: History of Science
Hometown: Bolingbrook, Illinois
Awards (HS): Valedictorian
Awards (Univ): Dean's List
Research: semiconductor physics, laser science
Research Advisors: Klaus Attenkofer (Argonne), Liz Moyer

During my time as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, I’ve had the opportunity to conduct research both at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago Department of Geophysical Sciences. Below, I summarize the projects I have been involved in and describe my specific contributions.

Summer 2009 I had an internship at Argonne National Laboratory with beamline scientist Dr. Klaus Attenkofer on a project to reduce noise in avalanche photodiodes (APDs), which are used on Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source. The amount of noise detected by an APD is affected by the structure and gain factor of the diode, as well as the ambient temperature. My project focused on determining the relationship between temperature and noise; I designed and assembled a circuit board for the controller for the thermoelectric cooler (TEC), and I attached a the TEC to an APD in order to take direct measurements of the effect of heat drain on the APD. These measurements determined the parameters within which the TEC apparatus was an effective cooling method.

Summer 2010 I returned to Argonne National Laboratory to work with Dr. Attenkofer and contributed to the Large-Area Picosecond Photo-Dectectors Project: a collaborative research effort involving scientists from Argonne, the University of Chicago, and many other research laboratories to develop large-area photodetectors with picoseconds resolution. Part of the project involved the construction of a photocathode growth and characterization facility. My project had two main components. One goal of my project was to study the UV-Vis absorbance behavior of potential materials for photocathode growth. The ultra-violet and visible (UV-Vis) spectral range is ideal for determining the electronic and optical properties of materials used in photocathodes because this range has the appropriate energy to interact with these materials’ crystal structures. I took absorbance measurements of two potential photocathode substrates and two potential thin film coatings across the UV-Vis range using a spectrophotometer, and then I analyzed the absorbance data to determine whether the materials were suitable for photocathode research. I also wanted to find a way for these measurements to be performed in situ during photocathode growth. To accomplish this, I designed an apparatus, mainly constructed out of optical tubing and components, that can attach directly to the photocathode characterization chamber, allowing for similar absorbance measurements to be taken.

Summer 2011 I began research with my current group under Dr. Elisabeth Moyer in the Department of Geophysics here at the University of Chicago. The Moyer Atmospheric Science Group studies the microphysics of cloud formation by measuring the isotopic composition of water vapor using laser absorption spectroscopy. Much of the day-to-day laboratory work focuses on the optical instrumentation involved in this type of experimentation, and my project is oriented along these lines, rather than along the geophysical purpose of our research; I am building a spacially-resolute laser beam profiler using a non-spacially resolute detector.

The ability to characterize a laser beam is critical to the growing field of scientific research based on laser applications. While in most spectral regions, spacially-resolute beam profilers are common and inexpensive, in less popular spectral regions –such as the “far near-infrared” region used to study the isotopic composition of water vapor –beam profilers are inhibitively expensive. I am designing and assembling a prototype laser beam profiler using inexpensive off-the-shelf components, custom designed and machined parts, and a virtual instrument programmed using LabVIEW. If successful, the beam profiler will be able to provide spacially-resolute intensity profiles for continuous-wave laser beams, regardless of their spectral region.

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