CONTRUCTION OF A Q-SWITCHED, Nd:YAG LASER WITH TELESCOPIC RESONATOR
Dixon T. Brockbank and Brandon S. Woll, Department of Physics
United States Military Academy, West Point, NY 10996
To meet the
requirements for stimulated rotational Raman scattering experiments, we
constructed a high power, narrow bandwidth, passively Q-switched,
Nd:YAG laser.In order to obtain relatively high
power and stable output, we increased the mode volume in a short cavity
by introducing an intra-cavity telescope to
expand the beam through the gain medium.We used
an intra-cavity etalon and relied on gain competition to achieve near single
longitudinal mode operation.This
technique produced interesting laser output.In the
non Q-switched cavity, we observed relaxation oscillations.After adding
the Q-switch, we were able to produce
either multiple pulses or a single pulse per flash
of the flashlamps.By directing the laser beam through two amplifiers, we
acquired Q-switched output at 300
mJ/pulse with FWHM of 60 ns.
Faculty Advisors:Lieutenant Colonel Michael E. Donovan and Captain Leanne
Henry
CALORIMETRIC STUDY OF CU/SN DIFFUSION COUPLES
Anthony Clark and Dr. E. J. Cotts, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY
Differential scanning calorimetry was used to study
the interdiffusion between copper and tin.The samples studied were trilayers
comprised of two layers of copper
with one tin layer in between.Soldering flux was
applied to the surfaces of the metals and then the layers were pressed
together without codeformation.The samples
were hermetically sealed in an Al pan in an Ar atmosphere
ata pressure under 10 Pa.A differential scanning calorimeter (Perkin-Elmer
DSC-2 interfaced to a computer) heated the samples at a constant rate up
to various temperatures between 500K and 610K.Data taken from the DSC was
analyzed to determine the
temperature dependent reaction constant of the growing
intermetallic.Several samples were quenched to room temperature at varying
points throughout the run. Each of these specimens was placed in epoxy
and polished.The cross section of each trilayer was examined by optical
microscopy and SEM (scanning electron microscopy) in order to define each
stage of the reaction.As suspected from previous studies, Cu6Sn5 grew initially,
followed by Cu3Sn.Rates of reaction for
Cu6Sn5 were quantified in the preliminary stages
of the reaction, where no Cu3Sn was observed to be growing.These reaction
rates are compared to those
previously obtained for longer times and larger
length scales.
TESTING OF THE ASD8-TMC CIRCUIT CARDS FOR THE PHENIX DRIFT CHAMBER OF
THE RHIC.
Eugene Torigoe, Physics, State University of New York at Binghamton;
Professor Thomas Hemmick, Professor Axel Drees, Jane Burward Hoy, and Chuck
Pancake, State University of New York at Stony Brook. This study was supported
by NSF Grant No. PHY 96-05108.
The Drift Chambers of the Phenix Detector of the
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory
(BNL) are being constructed at
Stony Brook. The Drift Chamber uses 6400 wires to
observe particles emitted from gold-gold nuclear collisions in the Phenix
detector. To read and record the
signals received from these wires, each Drift Chamber
is equipped with 160 ASD8-TMC circuit boards.Each board receives information
from 40 wires. The
boards are built with six ASD8 chips (8 channel
PreAmplifier, Shaper, and Discriminator chips) and ten TMC chips (Time
Memory Cell chips). When an ASD8
chip receives a signal from a wire, it determines
whether the signal is an actual signal or background noise.If it is found
to be a real signal, the ASD8 chip sends a
logic pulse to the TMC chip. The TMC chip receives
these pulses and records the time at which they are received. The information
gathered from these chips is
then used to determine the paths of the particles
emitted after the collisions. A procedure and testing protocol was established
to determine the operational capability
of each of the circuit boards.
NEURAL NETWORK INFORMATION PROCESSING IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PERCEPTION
Scott Oppenheimer, Binghamton University and James Vaccaro, United States
Air Force, Rome Labs
A single stage Hebbian neural network was created
for use in perceptive experiments involving artificial intelligence.The
network was designed to
actively assign weights to neurons depending on
the sensory input. This gives a powerful way of dividing the perception
space into manageable
sections.A multi-tiered approach was then used to
further divide the perception space.This allowed coarse or fine information
to be passed to
the rest of the artificial intelligence depending
on relative importance.
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FOR LOW MOMENTUM PARTICLE TRACKING
Diane Chin, Binghamton University and Mark Palmer, University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign
We studied tracking and software development, with
an emphasis on the search for better ways to find low momentum particles
in detector event reconstruction.
We were interested in particle-antiparticle mixing
in the neutral D-meson system. This particular decay has importance for
matter-antimatter interactions, yet
study of it has been consistently hindered by poor
event reconstruction. We wrote a software package called BinGo. BinGo is
a portable, object-oriented set of pattern recognition tools written in
C++ which uses a managing class called Scungili to organize the work of
a variety of LayerSet objects that perform general track finding. We coded
a first LayerSet class called DCTrack, which consists of a dictionary based
algorithm designed for extremely fast track finding. The program divides
the area of the detector into bins and then compares the hits found in
an actual event against simulated detector data. We also developed a mechanism
for different DCTrackLayerSet objects to communicate over the course of
an event. Each LayerSet object can access a list of the hits used in tracks
found by previousDCTrackLayerSets and then use this list to more efficiently
filter out detector noise. We finally wrote a second LayerSet class force
particle tracks into a spiral. The CurlerLayerSet keys in on the characteristic
pattern of successive hits in a single layer of the detectorleft by these
particles and reports these hits as a track. It also estimates the transverse
momentum and original angular trajectory of the track as a function of
the location of the turnover hits.
PHOTOMETRIC OBSERVATIONS OF CLASSICAL- AND BETA- CEPHEIDS
Five classical, or suspected classical Cepheids
and two suspected beta Cepheids were observed utilizing the V, R and I
filters of the Wellesley College 24拻
telescope between June and September 1999.My purpose
was to determine the period of these variable stars, listed as unknown
in the IBVS / GCVS catalog, and
further, to investigate the type of variability
exhibited.During the process of calibrating and photometering these images
in IRAF I discovered a CCD readout
problem and wrote programs to correct and salvage
these images.Of the objects observed periods were determined for two.V1820
Cygni exhibits a light curve that
may disqualify it from the beta Cepheid category.Suspected
delta Cepheid V651 Herculis proved to be an eclipsing binary system.
8:30
Registration, Front Foyer, Bausch and Lomb Hall
9-10am
Session I, Bausch and Lomb Hall, Room 106
High Energy and Nuclear Physics
Session Chair : R. L. Pompi, SUNY Binghamton
Software Development for Low Momentum Particle Tracking
Diane Chin, SUNY Binghamton and Mark Palmer, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Search for Resonances decaying into top and anti-top quarks
Han Yoo, 91自拍论坛
Testing the Cousins and Highland Method for Computing Limits
Julia Eaton, 91自拍论坛, Professor Ferbel
Direct Measurement of Branching Ratio t Wb at the D0 Detector at FermilabAndrew
Blechman, 91自拍论坛
Testing of the ASD8-TMC Circuit Cards for the Phenix Drift Chamber of the
RHIC
Eugene Torigoe, SUNY Binghamton, Professor Hemmick
10:00
Coffee Break
10:30-12:00
Session II, Bausch and Lomb Hall, Room 109
Joint RSPS/ASNY Session
Session Chair: J. Pipher, 91自拍论坛
Period Determination for 202 Chryseis
Marko Kryco, Colgate University, Professor Slivan
Narrow Band Imaging of AFGL 437
Peter Allen, 91自拍论坛, Professor Pipher
Near IR Imaging of NGC 771
Aaron Reichman, 91自拍论坛
InSb Infrared Detector Array Visible Performance
Brian Goss and Peter Allen, 91自拍论坛, Professor Forrest
Photometric Observations of Classical and Beta Cephids
Meredith Tanguay, Colgate University, Professor Benson, Wellesley College
The Distance to M81: A Comparison of the TRGB and Cephid Variable Distance
Estimators
Robert Carson, Siena College
Noon
Lunch,The Meliora
1:15-2:15
Session III, Bausch and Lomb Hall, room 106
Condensed Matter/General Physics
Session Chair: Lieutenant Colonel M. E. Donovan, United States Military
Academy
Construction of a Q-Switched, Nd:YAG Laser with Telescopic Resonator
Dixon Brockbank and Brandon S. Woll, United States Military Academy, West
Point, LTC Donovan and CPT Henry
Measuring Quantum Yield Without a Reference; a photoacoustic approach
Lisa Marshall, 91自拍论坛, Professor Rothberg
Shielding of Low Frequency ac Signals due to OFHC Copper at Low Temperatures
Tony Berbue and Bill Ballerine, SUNY Oswego, Professor Zych
Calorimetric Study of Cu/Sn Diffusion Couples
Anthony Clark, SUNY Binghamton
Neural Network Information Processing in Artificial Intelligence Perception
Scott Oppenheimer, SUNY Binghamton and James Vaccaro, USAF Rome, NY