Measuring the Density of Rb MOT
by Cameron Cook
supervisors:
Brett DePaola, Larry Weaver
Kansas State University Physics Department REU Program, sponsored by NSF
This program is funded by the National Science Foundation through grant number PHY-0851599.
Welcome to my webpage. This page
summarizes my experience doing research for the summer 2010 REU at Kansas State
University in the James R. Macdonald Lab. I work with Prof. Brett DePaola
and grad students Hyounguk Jang and Bachana Lomsadze in the MOTRIMS lab. Prof.
Larry Weaver is also my supervisor and a great help.
Information about the MOT lab with pictures! Some more updated pictures taken myself.
Project Goals: To take
pictures of the Rb MOT, calibrate the camera, and use computer programs to
determine the atomic density.
Research Strategy: Become familiar with the fine and hyperfine structures of ionized rubidium,
and the optics of the laser to the MOT. Become familiar with a few computer
programs so that I can effectively analyze an image projection of the MOT. Then
compare laser intensity to pixel intensity and determine density.
Final Presentation: Click here to download my presentation in PowerPoint.
Poster:
Click here to download
my poster in PowerPoint.
About Me:
I will be a
junior in the fall of 2010 at the University of Arkansas,
and I am a physics major and
math minor. I grew up in central Arkansas. I enjoy
wallyball, fishing, rowing, and classic rock. My favorite band is Queen. In spare time around the dorms here at KSU, I
learned how to play rummy and practiced my beatboxing skills.
In high school, I
thought I wanted to be an engineer, but I took a couple engineering classes and
decided that it was too technical. I had always been interested in mechanics,
so I kind of slipped into the Physics Major a month before my university
orientation. I’ve loved it since. I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do after my
bachelor’s degree. I may go into medical physics grad school and become a
medical physicist instead of regular grad school. If I don’t, I have wanted to
work at NASA for years, maybe in aerospace, so cross my fingers.
Check out these useful
sites:
American Physical Society Statements on Ethics
My Mentors: Brett DePaola Larry Weaver