Physics - University of Wisconsin

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Physics
Newsle�er
Issue # 22
www.uwrf.edu/physics
Summer 2010
Through Ice-Covered Waters
Kyle Jero, a junior Physics major, spent several weeks aboard
the Swedish icebreaker Oden as part of the IceTop experiment at
the South Pole. Kyle was on board for the third and final leg of the
voyage, which took him from Antarctica to Chile. This is Kyle’s
account of his trip.
The purpose for our presence on the icebreaker Oden was the
need for trained people to watch over a data monitoring system.
IceCube is a neutrino detector located deep in the ice at the South
Pole. However, associated with it is a smaller square kilometer
surface detector that consists of over 150 tanks of ice to help determine the direction these particlesare traveling as well as to observe
large particle showers. Scientists hope that with some calibration
the surface tanks can be used to observe particles coming from the The icy waters off the deck of the Oden.
Submitted photo.
sun and further our understanding of how the sun operates. The
most realistic way to do this involves a latitude survey, taking observations as the detector’s latitude on Earth changes.
Thus, our experiment was conducted as the icebreaker sailed from Sweden to Antarctica and back.
continued on page 6....
In order to reach the U.S. Antarctic base, McMurdo, I first traveled to Christchurch, New
Two Recent Graduates Earn Schumacher Wins 2009-10
Physics Service Award
National Fellowships
Two recent graduates of the UWRF Physics Department
have been awarded significant fellowships to support their
graduate studies. Devin Underwood (2009) is a graduate
student in the Electrical Engineering department at Princeton
University. He was awarded a National Science Foundation
(NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship to support his research
in the field of experimental quantum computing. The lab
Devin works in designs, builds, and conducts experiments
on superconducting qubits at temperatures as low as 10 mK.
Superconducting qubits are solid state electrical circuits
fabricated using techniques borrowed from conventional
integrated circuits. They are based on the Josephson tunnel
junction. The research is conducted continued on page 4....
Neal Schumacher has been awarded the 2009-2010
Physics Department Service Award. The award recognizes
Neal’s significant and continuous support of the physics
department over the years.
After graduating from UWRF in 1988, Neal obtained
his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M
University and began work at Banner Engineering in Minneapolis, MN. Starting as a product engineer, he worked his
way up to his present position as Vice President of Engineering. Recently, Neal completed an MBA from the Carlson
School of Management at the University of Minnesota.
Over the years, Neal has mentored a number of UWRF
physics students who have worked as continued on page 4....
Summer 2010
2
Projects, Projects, and More Projects
With the large number of students currently in the program (23 graduates this year!),
there are also a large number of research projects occurring. It seemed like every table and
countertop was in use this spring-including
space in the stockroom.
Here is a selection of some of the projects
from this past semester in Advanced Lab:
Dustin Clark and Beth Denkinger developed a photolithography process to create
patterned aluminum films using the thermal
evaporator. As the first students to use this
photoresist at UWRF, they determined all the
process parameters needed to create a clean,
sharp pattern.
Michael Fitzl and Abby Riddick investigated the distribution of air in concrete samples
as a function of the distance from the finished
(top) surface of the concrete. Since the size
and number of the air voids in concrete help
determine its structural properties, if the distribution changes throughout the material, it
It’s the Thought that
Counts...
This spring, some of the retired faculty from the
physics department thoughtfully brought in a cake
to celebrate some of the recent accomplishments of
the department. The writing on the cake says: “Congratulations. Thanks for not backsliding too much.
The Old Guys.” Yes, John Shepherd helped come up
with that design.
may not meet the required
specifications. They found
no discernible trend in the
air content with depth in the
samples they tested.
The wind tunnel built
by Jesse Goebel last year
was modified by Seth Matucheski and James Allen to
allow simultaneous lift and
drag force measurements on
wing sections placed in the
tunnel. They then created
over 20 different leading
edges for a wing to determine
which leading edge profile
produced the greatest lift to
drag ratio.
Using a numerical simulation, Trevor Tomesh and
Sean Nomoto investigated
the behavior of a simple pendulum when driven by a chaotic signal. They noticed some
unusual, and as yet unexplained, frequencies in the resulting
motion of the pendulum.
Shawntel Murphy and Forest Kirschbaum modified an
existing optical trap to collect Raman scattered light with a
spectrometer. The optical trap is used to suspend micronsized water droplets in air, and the Raman scattered light
from these droplets can be used to determine the diameter
of the droplet to within a few nanometers.
Mitch Andrejka and Aaron Ruether constructed a scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer in order to investigate the
mode structure of a Helium Neon laser. They even coated
the mirrors for the interferometer themselves using the
thermal evaporator.
Nine students also finished their Senior Seminar projects this spring:
Forest Kirschbaum used cosmic ray data from the IceCube project at the South Pole to correlate the air temperature to the measured rate of the events. There is hope that
IceCube data can be used to make indirect measurements of
the average air temperature above Antarctica.
Michael Fitzl compared a standard, but very time consuming, technique for determining the amount of air voids
in concrete to a potentially more automated method. By
reflecting light off the prepared surface of the concrete, and
Summer 2010
using simple image analysis of the resulting pictures of the surface, Michael
found that his new technique may be
equivalent to the standard method, but
much faster to perform.
Shawntel Murphy used the optical trap to investigate the motion of
trapped water droplets as the power of
the trapping laser beam was varied.
Luke Titus examined a simple
theoretical model of dark energy, the
as-yet undetected ‘substance’ that appears to be causing the expansion of
the universe to accelerate over time.
The model was based on two coupled
oscillating masses, where one mass has
a negative total energy.
Craig Witte fabricated several
high temperature superconducting
samples of Yttrium Barium Copper
oxide (YBCO) and made resistance measurements on them to determine the temperature at
which they became superconducting.
Beth Denkinger built and tested an induction cooktop in order to compare the claims of
improved efficiency over a standard cooktop.
She was banned from doing any more experiments in her dorm kitchen after she twice
tripped the circuit breaker.
Abby Riddick used numerical simula-
3
tions to examine how light propagates
through the ice at the South Pole. The
simulations examined light leaving
LED’s on one of the detector modules
in the ice and how that light was collected by the neighboring modules,
depending on the properties and clarity of the ice.
Mitch Andrejka measured the
forces produced when people land on
the ground after jumping from specified heights. He was able to verify
that certain landing techniques (like
rolling out of the landing) can significantly decrease the forces on the legs
of the jumper.
Seth Matucheski designed an
electric generator to be used on a human-powered electric bicycle. The
custom-built recumbent
bike will avoid the need
for a long drive chain by
producing electricity with
the generator in the pedals
in order to run an electric motor that drives the
wheels.
Left: The series of wing leading edges tested in the wind
tunnel. The upper left image
shows the standard leading
edge without any modifications. All the rest of the modifications: dimples, turbulator
strips, tubercles, ‘delta’ edges,
etc. are meant to control turbulence across the upper surface
of the wing. Far left: Aaron
Ruether controls the heating of
aluminum prior to depositing a
thin film. Upper left (previous
page): Shawntel Murphy and
Forest Kirschbaum examine a
water droplet they’ve captured
in the optical trap. Top (this
page): Dustin Clark and Beth
Denkinger evaluate several
patterns they exposed and developed in photoresist as they
try to improve their process.
Summer 2010
4
...Fellowship Winners
...continued from page 1
at low temperatures so as
to avoid unwanted thermal
noise, which will cause a
qubit to collapse out of a
state of quantum superposition into a well defined
state. These superconducting qubits can be modeled
as an artificial atom with
two distinct energy levels;
a ground state and a first
excited state. By forcing the
atom/qubit to interact with
light, its state becomes a
combination of the ground
Devin Underwood
state and first excited state.
In addition to making progress towards building a quantum
computer, they use these qubits to experimentally study the
interactions of light and matter.
Devin is also a member of the Princeton Men’s Club
Hockey team. He was the second-leading goal scorer and
had the second largest total of penalty minutes this past
season.
Ann Deml (2008) is a graduate student in the Materials Science program at the Colorado School of Mines.
She was also awarded an NSF fellowship, but declined it in
favor of a Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship. Ann is conducting research in the field of
nanoionics. Nanoionics aims to manipulate space charge
at ionic interfaces in order
to control ionic conduction.
She plans to develop an
ionic field effect transistor,
a device analogous to MOSFETs in the semiconductor
industry. Such a device will
provide valuable insight into
the fundamental physics that
govern ionic space charge
regions. In addition, the device also suggests promise in
electrochemical storage and
energy conversion applications and new possibilities
in “electrochemical logic.”
Ann Deml
2010 -11 Scholarship
Winners
Several scholarship winners were announced at the
annual Physics Department Banquet in April. The awards
given to continuing students are:
Earl G. Albert Scholarship: Kathleen Vignali
Victor England
Curt and Dee Larson
Scholarship:
Amanda Steck
Dr. Henry Tranmal
Scholarship:
Johanna Kadlec
Supported by donations from alumni and friends of
the Physics Department, two incoming students have been
awarded Physics Alumni Scholarships. These awards are
for $1000 per year and are renewable for up to four years,
as long as the students maintain good grades. This year’s
winners are:
Matthew Schmitt, Somerset, WI
Joseph DeCarlo, Stillwater, MN
Schumacher
...continued from page 1
interns at Banner--some who went on to permanent
positions at the company. On several occasions, he
has made it possible for students working on projects
at UWRF to use Banner products as part of their research.
Earl Blodgett awards the Physics Department Service
Award to Neal Schumacher at the annual spring banquet.
Summer 2010
5
Spring Banquet Snapshots
Top left: Banquet speaker Catherine Mader and Eileen Korenic. Top right: Curt Larson, Jim Madsen, Mike Lewandowski,
and Dwight Luhman. Lower left:Neal Schumacher and Erik
Hendrickson. Lower right: Andy Hoerneman, Earl Blodgett,
Casey Hoerneman, and Justin Peskar.
2010 UWRF ΣΠΣ Honors Society Inductees
This year’s ΣΠΣ inductees are (from left): Zach Anderson, Victor England, Michael McAllister, Denise Nelson, Abby Pederson, Brendan Reed,
Katelyn Schramke, and Michael Tuma.
6
... Through the Ice
...continued from page 1
Zealand. The trip took one and a half days and I arrived at the
exact same time as a number of my Swedish shipmates. We
were all bused to a cute little bed and breakfast in the heart
of Christchurch where we remained for a few days while
we recouped and were issued our gear for the hop over to
Antarctica. The morning of the flight we were bused out to
the airport to put on all the cold weather gear, even though
the current temperature was somewhere around 60 oF. After
six hours in a deafening cargo plane, we arrived on the Ross
ice shelf just outside of the McMurdo station. Upon arrival,
we were driven directly to the Oden where we would stay
except for a short stint back on land a few days later.
I was joined by an IceCube graduate student, Matthias
Danninger from Stockholm University, and were assigned
to stay in the Royal Suite. Also onboard we were a variety of scientists who had come to take advantage of the
icebreaker’s access to parts of Antarctica that are otherwise
inaccessible. The additional scientists consisted of marine
geologists who were interested in the speed of glacial retreat
after the last glacial maximum and physical oceanographers
studying the incursion of warm water near the ocean floor
and its impact on glaciers today. After clearing the channel
through the ice to McMurdo station for the final time, we
docked at the station again to install some equipment and
Summer 2010
get a new supply of food. During the work, the scientists
were allowed to disembark and explore the station and visit
nearby locales. Matthias and I took the opportunity to climb
a nearby hill between the American and New Zealand bases
on the island. We snapped a few pictures, then descended
the other side to catch a ride to the New Zealand base and
check out their gift shop, the only part we were allowed to
see. After that we returned to the ship and spent the next
six weeks at sea.
Life on a ship is very different from what I had envisioned. The average day on board the Oden looked much
like a regular work day, starting around 9:00 am and ending
around 5:00 pm and then people either relaxed or worked
some more in the evening. General activities included lectures from scientists on board, movies in the theater, darts in
the bar, sauna sessions, and ping pong under the helicopter
deck. However, the repetitive nature of being on a ship does
get to everyone, so many special events were organized to
give spice to life on board. A ping pong tournament was
conceived and took place nightly. Thursdays were always a
traditional Swedish meal of pea soup and pancakes. Saturday
night dinners were a step above the usual amazing meals.
While things were sometimes difficult it was never enough to
dampen the spirits of the crew and scientists because of the
unique experience that everyone received and the beautiful
scenery that drifted by at all times.
The majestic beauty and raw nature are more than
enough to awe everyone whenever they dared to brave the
elements outdoors. Sights like little penguins struggling to
stay atop a rolling piece of ice develop a sense of detachment from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Icebergs
the size of cities towering above your position on the highest reaches of the ship puts the real size and magnitude of
nature into a very blunt perspective. An understanding of
how magnificent the planet we live on is broke through
every moment.
Clockwise from top: Crew members and scientists stand on the ice
near the Oden. Sunlight streaming through a cloud highlights a large
iceberg. Kyle Jero walks on the deck of the Oden. Submitted photos.
Summer 2010
7
We Hear That....
Duane Larson (1966) passed away July 8, 2009 at the Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge, TN. Duane grew
up in Lund, Wisconsin, on a dairy farm. He earned his PhD in nuclear physics from Michigan State University in 1972.
Along the way, he married fellow physics student Nancy Zander. Together they joined the staff at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (ORNL). In 2001 Duane retired from ORNL as Director of the Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator. The
focus of his research then shifted from physics to antique tractors. He helped found the Karns Volunteer Fire Department,
served the Karns Community Club in many different capacities and was active in the Smoky Mountain Antique Engine
and Tractor Association, the East Tennessee Two-Cylinder Club, and the Spark Plug Collectors of America.
Kent Olson (1974) retired from the Mercury Marine Power Corp. in Fond du Lac, WI where he was employed for
20 years as a mechanical engineer. He worked in the R&D, Design, and Reliability and Test areas and was an integral part
in the introduction of new outboard motors for Mercury. Upon retiring, he returned to school, earning associate degrees
in Machining and CNC design with which he has continued to support companies like Speed Queen, Plexis, and Waupaca
Elevator as an employee and as a consultant. His hobbies include railroad “speeders,” Jeep trips to Moab, UT, gun repair,
camping, and working with the local Boy Scout Troop. In 2007, his son received his Eagle Scout Award, an achievement
that Olson also made in 1963. He and his son now are one of a few father and son pairs to have accomplished this in
Wisconsin.
Yvette (Guenther) Richardson (1990) is an Associate Professor of Meteorology at Penn State University. She is
a principal investigator of Vortex 2, a large ‘storm chasing’ experiment that is currently in its second year of deployment.
Over 100 scientists are involved in the program to learn more about the behavior and structure of tornadoes. See www.
vortex2.org for more information. There are a series of videos on this project created by The Weather Channel as well:
www.weather.com
Earl Blodgett (1980) was given an Outstanding McNair Faculty Mentor award in 2010 for his work with students
in the UWRF McNair program. The McNair program helps prepare students to obtain Ph.D.’s in their chosen field, and
this award recognizes Earl’s tireless work with physics students who have been McNair Scholars.
Spring SPS Events
As usual, the local chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS)
had a busy spring. Some highlights:
Physics with the Twins - April 14, the second game at Target Field.
Twelve UWRF students took the lead in running baseball related physics
activities for an estimated 1500 middle and high school students. They
assisted in planning the event with GO4ST8 Physics, an association of
high school physics teachers in the Twin Cities area. The students also
got to take in a game at the new ballpark.
Gear Up/Get Ready - April 29. The students assisted the Gear Up/
Get Ready program with a campus visit day. This is a program that partners UWRF education students as mentors and tutors with middle school
students from St. Paul. SPS gave shows on the stage in North Hall Auditorium,
which were taped by KARE 11 TV. UWRF students were interviewed, and they
even gave the reporter a ride on our new personal hovercraft. The story is supposed to air early this summer.
Themed Meeting with a Meal. SPS meets every week at noon, with cookies.
But once a month they meet at 5 pm with a potluck meal. This spring they had a
theme for each meal - Mardi Gras in February, St. Patrick’s Day in March, and a
baseball theme in April, as they finalized planning for Physics with the Twins.
Top right: Some of the many high school physics students who gathered at Target
Field for Physics with the Twins. Bottom right: Katelyn Schramke and Crague
Cook explain some of the physics involved in baseball. Submitted photos.
Summer 2010
8
McCann Named 2010 Oden Cruisers Present
Distinguished Teacher Poster ‘On the Hill’
Lowell McCann was named UWRF’s 2010 Distinguished Teacher this spring. The award is based
on nominations from graduating seniors and recent
alumni.
The main duty of the
recipient of this award is
to deliver the commencement address for the upcoming Fall commencement ceremony. McCann
is currently trying to find
out if a giant blackboard
can be installed on the
stage so that he can solve
the Schroedinger equation
as part of the address.
Lowell McCann
Photo by Jens Gunelson
The three students who took part in the Oden icebreaker
voyage from Sweden to Antarctica and Chile were honored
by having the poster describing their experiment accepted for
the Council on Undergraduate Research’s ‘Posters on the Hill’
event. This yearly nation-wide event selects outstanding student
research projects to be displayed at the U.S. Capitol building.
Samantha Jakel, Drew Anderson, and Kyle Jero pose for a photo
outside of Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl’s office.
The sole purpose of this newsletter is to keep everyone in the UWRF Physics community informed about the
activities of our members--that’s you! We and your fellow readers want to hear what you’ve been up to recently (or
not so recently, as the case may be). Please fill out the form below with your news and mail it in, or call: (715) 4253196, e-mail: [email protected], or fill out the form on the web: www.uwrf.edu/physics/alumniform.html
Name:___________________________________________ Years attended:____________
Address:_________________________________________________________________
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Phone: (_____)__________________
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May we share your address with your fellow physics alumni? _______________
News:_____________________________________________________________________
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Physics Newsletter # 22
Summer 2010
Edited by: Lowell McCann
Printed by Fast Copy
CSH masthead picture by:
Jens Gunelson
Contact information:
Physics Department
UW-River Falls
River Falls, WI 54022
715-425-3196
[email protected]
Physics