A list of positions I have held which may be of interest to the people who are viewing this site (not currently up to date, sorry for the inconvenience).
Brown Lab
Undergraduate Research
Summer 2013 semester
I am taking data for Grahame Vittorini in his cryogenic chamber while he writes his thesis. Before this data could be taken the trap had to be brought to room temperature and pressure to clean off what had built up around the windows while the chamber was at cryogenic temperatures. Having taken the chamber back to cryogenic temperatures, data is currently being acquired on the lifetimes of isotopically pure calcium ion chains. This experiment is being performed in order to both test the quality of the cryogenic chamber and also to potentially determine the appropriate model for how ion chains acquire motional quanta in a cryogenic surface-electrode trap.
Spring 2013 semester
Rene Rugango and I acquired the schematics for a structure to house a tapered amplifier (TA) and the optics necessary to seed it from the Kuzmich Group at Georgia Tech in order to set up a TA to amplify the 729 nm laser used in lab. I pieced together the structure, set up the temperature control system (using a thermoelectric cooler, TEC), and built an external fan control to keep the heat sync attached to the TEC cool while Rene set up the optics and aligned the seeding laser. At the most recent update (7/2013) the TA is able to amplify 13 mW to 205 mW. The frequency of the light emitted from the TA is monitored by a WS7 and is the same as the light emitted from the seeding laser.
Fall 2012 semester
I helped James Goeders to sideband cool ions in the molecular chamber. Ions that are trapped in the chamber are already cooled to their Doppler limit in the milikelvin range but to cool them further, and to ensure that they are in their ground state, sideband cooling is necessary. This further cooling allows the lab to test the idea of Quantum Sympathetic Heating Spectroscopy, and hopefully will allow us to perform Quantum Logic Spectroscopy sometime in the future.
Spring 2012 semester
Along with James Goeders, I helped to determine the mass of different isotopes of calcium, and the molecular ions CaH+, CaD+, and CaO+. Previous work in the lab had been done in determining the mass of the lighter isotopes of Ca+ and the molecular ions of CaH+, and CaD+. Accurate data was gathered on 48Ca+ by James and myself, although the data gathered on CaO+ was unsatisfactory. The results of this research was a publication in The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, titled Identifying Single Molecular Ions by Resolved Sideband Measurements.
Summer 2013 semester
I am taking data for Grahame Vittorini in his cryogenic chamber while he writes his thesis. Before this data could be taken the trap had to be brought to room temperature and pressure to clean off what had built up around the windows while the chamber was at cryogenic temperatures. Having taken the chamber back to cryogenic temperatures, data is currently being acquired on the lifetimes of isotopically pure calcium ion chains. This experiment is being performed in order to both test the quality of the cryogenic chamber and also to potentially determine the appropriate model for how ion chains acquire motional quanta in a cryogenic surface-electrode trap.
Spring 2013 semester
Rene Rugango and I acquired the schematics for a structure to house a tapered amplifier (TA) and the optics necessary to seed it from the Kuzmich Group at Georgia Tech in order to set up a TA to amplify the 729 nm laser used in lab. I pieced together the structure, set up the temperature control system (using a thermoelectric cooler, TEC), and built an external fan control to keep the heat sync attached to the TEC cool while Rene set up the optics and aligned the seeding laser. At the most recent update (7/2013) the TA is able to amplify 13 mW to 205 mW. The frequency of the light emitted from the TA is monitored by a WS7 and is the same as the light emitted from the seeding laser.
Fall 2012 semester
I helped James Goeders to sideband cool ions in the molecular chamber. Ions that are trapped in the chamber are already cooled to their Doppler limit in the milikelvin range but to cool them further, and to ensure that they are in their ground state, sideband cooling is necessary. This further cooling allows the lab to test the idea of Quantum Sympathetic Heating Spectroscopy, and hopefully will allow us to perform Quantum Logic Spectroscopy sometime in the future.
Spring 2012 semester
Along with James Goeders, I helped to determine the mass of different isotopes of calcium, and the molecular ions CaH+, CaD+, and CaO+. Previous work in the lab had been done in determining the mass of the lighter isotopes of Ca+ and the molecular ions of CaH+, and CaD+. Accurate data was gathered on 48Ca+ by James and myself, although the data gathered on CaO+ was unsatisfactory. The results of this research was a publication in The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, titled Identifying Single Molecular Ions by Resolved Sideband Measurements.
Quantum Information Systems Group at the Georgia Tech Research Institute
Undergraduate Research
Fall 2012 semester
I worked with the QIS group at GTRI to build multiple 25 channel op-amp boards, capable of giving experimenters more precise control over individual radio frequency (RF) electrodes in their traps. I built, tested, and integrated the boards into their current states, where four will be used in high fidelity transport experiments, and another will be used in a different trap to help with compensation.
Fall 2012 semester
I worked with the QIS group at GTRI to build multiple 25 channel op-amp boards, capable of giving experimenters more precise control over individual radio frequency (RF) electrodes in their traps. I built, tested, and integrated the boards into their current states, where four will be used in high fidelity transport experiments, and another will be used in a different trap to help with compensation.
Arizona Chemical
Summer Internship
Summer 2012
I worked as a technician in the specialty products group, synthesizing polyamides for use in sun care applications. The final polymer that I synthesized enhanced the feel of the sunscreen, and boosted the SPF ratings of sunscreens that were made with it. I also was in charge of testing ten Arizona Chemical polymers, along with any polymers that I synthesized, and determining their hydrophilic-lipophilic values (HLB) values. At the end of the internship, I wrote the procedure on HLB testing.
Summer 2012
I worked as a technician in the specialty products group, synthesizing polyamides for use in sun care applications. The final polymer that I synthesized enhanced the feel of the sunscreen, and boosted the SPF ratings of sunscreens that were made with it. I also was in charge of testing ten Arizona Chemical polymers, along with any polymers that I synthesized, and determining their hydrophilic-lipophilic values (HLB) values. At the end of the internship, I wrote the procedure on HLB testing.
Robins Air Force Base
Youth Apprenticeship Program
Summer 2011
I worked in both the Failure Analysis lab, and the Chemical Specifications lab. In the Chemical Specifications lab, I was trained to run the Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometer (GDOES) and detect the ratios of metallic elements in given samples. In the Failure Analysis lab, I was trained to run the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and find microfractures on the surfaces of given samples.
Summer 2010, 2009
I shadowed electrical and software engineers in the engineering division of the 580th aircraft sustainment group and helped test code written for the Flight and Radar Simulations Lab.
Summer 2008
I shadowed aerospace and electrical engineers working on the Joint Surveillance Targeted Attack Radar System (JSTARS).
Summer 2011
I worked in both the Failure Analysis lab, and the Chemical Specifications lab. In the Chemical Specifications lab, I was trained to run the Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometer (GDOES) and detect the ratios of metallic elements in given samples. In the Failure Analysis lab, I was trained to run the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and find microfractures on the surfaces of given samples.
Summer 2010, 2009
I shadowed electrical and software engineers in the engineering division of the 580th aircraft sustainment group and helped test code written for the Flight and Radar Simulations Lab.
Summer 2008
I shadowed aerospace and electrical engineers working on the Joint Surveillance Targeted Attack Radar System (JSTARS).
