Coupling a Bessel Beam and Damaging Nanowires

by Daniel M. Todd

Supervisor: Dr. Carlos Trallero

Kansas State University Physics Department REU Program

Home Research Results About Me

I currently live at home in West Chesterfield, NH.  I am currently a rising senior at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, VT where I major in physics and minor in math and psychology. I first got interested in physics in high school when my physics teacher opened my eyes to the complex and fascinating aspects of the physical world. I am a member of Vermont’s only chapter of the Society for Physics Students and am a student member of the American Physical Society.

This REU experience has given me the best summer I could possibly hope for. I learned more than I ever thought I could about lasers, AMO physics and what it is like to research a topic that truly interests me. I truly enjoyed lounging around with my friends from the Physics REU as well as the Chemistry and Biology REUs. I have to say that Kansas was not what I was expecting it to be at all and turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I will have such wonderful memories of these fantastic people throughout the rest of my life and I only wish we could have been here longer!