Colloquium Archive

Wednesday, February 4th
Physics & Astronomy Department Afternoon Tea
We will socialize and faculty will update majors on what will be going on in the department this semester. Hope you can join us!

3:30pm
Physics 2nd floor lounge area
Cookies & tea provided

Tuesday, April 14th
Physics & Astronomy Majors Dinner
We'll induct our newest Physics majors and Sigma Pi Sigma inductees & announce departmental awards and prizes 

5:30pm
Rector Atrium
Served meal by Dining Services

Join us as we induct our new Physics majors, celebrate our Sigma Pi Sigma inductees and we'll announce awards and prizes

Thursday, April 23rd
Physics Honors Talk - Ella Piergrossi '26
Shedding Light on the Small Stuff: Mapping Ion Trajectories in Ultrafast Molecular Experiments

Laser spectroscopy has a variety of applications, including imaging of molecular systems. Using a common method known as the pump-probe experiment, one can use ultrafast shaped laser pulses to study the nuclear and electronic dynamics in molecules. In these experiments, a "pump" pulse promotes molecules to the first excited, electronic state. A secondary "probe" pulse then ionizes a portion of these excited molecules, and the resulting ions are collected in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Depending on the pulse parameters, the nuclear, and sometimes electronic, dynamics of the molecules can be resolved. In collaboration with Stony Brook University, we optimize signal collection by modeling ion deflection at various distances between the molecular beam nozzle and the laser focus. SIMION software models the trajectory of ions in the chamber, and we find a cut-off point where the proximity of the nozzle disrupts the electric field sufficiently so that the ions no longer make it to the detector. The simulation results are compared to experimental measurements. We see generally good agreement between the simulations and experiment.

Noon
Tome 115
Pizza provided