October 31, 2024
Noah Lape '26 will present "Seeing Physics at Extreme Conditions" and Emma Lothrop '25 will present "Physics and STEM Applications at an Environmental Company". Pizza provided and everyone welcome!
Noah's abstract: Emergent quantum phenomena such as superconduction and colossal magnetoresistance manifest when materials are put under pressures higher than those found at the center of the Earth. We achieve these pressures in the lab using a Diamond Anvil Cell (DAC), a device that functions as a diamond vice and squeezes materials. We characterize material properties using a combination of electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, XRD, and Raman measurements. But in order to better understand the lattice structure that gives rise to fascinating properties we need to take higher resolution spectra and collect more light from our DAC. We designed an optics system to do just this and attempted to experimentally verify it's effectiveness. Increasing light collection from our DAC will allow us to characterize the structures of materials we were previously unable to and has some promising applications in allowing us to preform high resolution microscopy in the DAC for the purpose of analyzing biological organisms that have been "frozen in time" through flash pressurization. Emma's abstract: The vast majority of items we dispose of cannot be recycled because they are comprised of films, layered materials, or composites. But by identifying the component materials, separating them, and assessing the overall environmental impact of the process, we can begin to find some solutions. Over the summer, I interned with TerraCycle’s R&D team. I worked in the lab as part of a small R&D team to identify plastics and worked remotely to conduct lifecycle analyses. I also had the opportunity to hear from others through lunch-and-learn talks and other interns’ project presentations.
Further information
- Location: Tome 115
- Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
- Cost: Free