General News
On Sept. 1, 18 Physics graduate students, and one Dept Head, floated
the lower Madison/upper Missouri rivers. The group triumphed over
blistering Sun, submerged snags, braided channels, and raging thirst,
having a great time while performing experiments in applied hydrodynamics!
At their September meeting, the Board of Regents conferred upon John
Hermanson and Robert J. Swenson the rank of Professor Emeritus of Physics.
Congratulations to our colleagues!
Please welcome research scientist and solar computer system
administrator Dr. Keiji Yoshimura to the MSU solar physics group. He is an
expert on computer system management, having managed the solar computers
at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences and Kwasan & Hida
Observatories of the University of Kyoto. He is an accomplished solar
physicist, as well, specializing in the analysis of optical, X-ray, and
EUV data from ground and space-based observatories. He obtained his PhD
from Kyoto University in 1999, writing his thesis on soft X-ray
brightenings above emerging flux regions. He is accompanied by his wife
Dr. Aki Takeda (an accomplished solar physicist in her own right) and
their son Yufu. His office is EPS 256, formerly occupied by his
predecessor in the solar system administrator job, Alisdair Davey.
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Awards
Honors and New Positions
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Invited And Contributed Talks
"Coherence Domains in Dendrimers
Studied by Two- and Three-Photon Spectroscopy", Mikhail Drobijev, Optical
Science and Laser Technology Conference, Sep. 19-20.
"New Sensitizers for Two Photon Absorption Based Applications", Aliaksandr
Karotki, Optical Science and Laser Technology Conference, Sep. 19-20.
"Overview of Cone/Sun Group Activities on Optical Material Design and
Characterization", R.L. Cone, Optical Science and Laser Technology
Conference, Sep. 19-20.
"Transient and Permanent Spectral Hole Burning in Er3+-Doped Glasses", Y.
Sun, Optical Science and Laser Technology Conference, Sep. 19-20.
"Molecular Beam Characterization of Jordan Valve", Cooper P. McCann,
Optical Science and Laser Technology Conference, Sep. 19-20.
"Theoretical studies of high conversion efficiency anti-Stokes generation
in a CW Raman Laser, Sytil Murphy, Optical Science and Laser Technology
Conference, Sep. 19-20.
"Mode locked External Cavity Diode Laser", Yihan Xiong, Optical Science
and Laser Technology Conference, Sep. 19-20.
"Optical Control of Geometric Phase", Mingzhen Tian, Optical Science and
Laser Technology Conference, Sep. 19-20.
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Proposals Submitted
"Structure property relationships in novel transition metal oxides,
Department of Energy, EPSCoR Laboratory Partnership Program, $448,004.
02/01/04 - 01/31/07. PI: John Neumeier.
Proposals Funded
The MOSES year 4 proposal has been selected for funding by NASA.
Title: "The Multi-Order Solar EUV Spectrograph: Instrument calibration,
data analysis and publication of results"; Funding profile: $364,739, FY
2004. PI: Charles Kankelborg.
Supplement to Montana State University REU Site Program : A Materials
Research Education, National Science Foundation, $86,500. These funds
support two K-12 or community college teachers each summer for three
years. PI John J. Neumeier, Co-PI Yves Idzerda.
"Acqusition of an Optical Image Furnace for Single Crystal Growth",
Materials Res., and Education, NSF, $142,723. John Neumeier.
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Colloquia
"Black Hole Mass Estimation in High-Redshift
Quasars", Dr. Michael Brotherton, U. of Wyoming, Sep. 5.
"Bits of the future: Magnetic recording beyond the superparamagnetic
limit", Eric Fullerton, San Jose Research Center Hitachi Global Storage
Technologies, Sep. 12.
"Neural coding and decoding: past and present, fact and fiction",
Alexander Dimitrov, Center for Computational Biology, Montana State
University, Sep. 19.
"Big G and Gravity Close Up", Jens Gundlach, Department of Physics,
University of Washington, Sep. 26.
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Seminars
Condensed Matter:
"Orbital physics and metamagnetism in Ruthenates", Dr.Luis Balicas,
National High Magnetic Field Lab., and Florida State Univ., Sep. 4.
"Designer Diamond Anvils: A Novel Technique for Electrical Transport and
AC Susceptibility Measurements",
Dr. Damon Jackson, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Sep. 4.
"Polarization Rotations via Monoclinic Phases in Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)1-xTixO3
crystal", Tim Tu, Dept. of Physics, Fu Jen University, Taipei, TAIWAN,
Sep. 8.
"Coupled spins on the surface of II-VI nanocrystals", Bret Hess, Physics
Department, Brigham Young University, Sep. 15.
"Growth and Structure of Thin Fe Films on the Ti-Al Interface", C.V.
Ramana, Sep. 20.
"Diffusion and flow dynamics in porous media by NMR gradient spin echo",
Janez Stepisnik, Physics Department, University of Ljubljana and J. Stefan
Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Sep. 29.
"Product development at a small high-tech company: a word from the
trenches", Neil Dilley, Quantum Design, Inc., Sep. 30.
Rel/Astro
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Conferences and Other Travel
Randy Babbitt, Aleks Rebane, and Rufus Cone, together with Randy Equall of
Scientific Materials Corporation, hosted the 8th International Meeting on
Hole Burning, Single Molecule, and Related Spectroscopies: Science and
Applications, 'HBSM 2003,' on July 26 - 31, 2003, in Bozeman, Montana. The
HBSM Conference is held regularly to disseminate the latest developments
in high-resolution optical spectroscopy of solids: spectral hole burning,
single molecule spectroscopy, photon echoes and related topics. The main
conference themes included: hole-burning materials and mechanisms, photon
echoes and coherent transients, photophysics and photochemistry, single
molecule detection and spectroscopy, novel microscopies, optical storage
and signal processing, optical dephasing and spectral diffusion, time and
space domain holography, biological systems, nanosystems and nano-optics,
and multi-photon and nonlinear effects. There were 100 participants from
13 countries. The conference was sponsored by The Physics Department, The
Spectrum Lab, and Scientific Materials Corporation and was supported by
Air Force Office of Scientific Research and Scientific Materials
Corporation.
Bill Hiscock attended the national NSF EPSCoR meeting in
Las Vegas, NV,
Sept. 7-9, including a meeting of the Board of Directors of the EPSCoR
Foundation.
Bill Hiscock attended the quarterly meeting of the Aerospace States
Association meeting in Washington, DC, Sept. 14-16. While in Washington,
he also met with congressional staff in Senator Burns and Congressman
Rehberg's offices, as well as with House and Senate Appropriations
Committee staff, NASA HQ personnel, and attended a U.S. Space Roundtable
meeting on Suborbital Space Access.
Bill Hiscock, Clarice Koby, and Michelle Larson attended the Western
Regional Space Grant Meeting in Rapid City, SD, Sept. 24-27.
Keigo Fukumura spent Sep. 5-23 in Tokyo, Japan, on Spectral and Temporal
Analysis of Some AGN, for collaboration with Professor Kundieda's group in
ISAS.
Piet Martens traveled to St. Andrews, Scotland to participate in a
symposium in honor of Professor Priets and give a talk, Sep. 3-11.
Dana Long cope attended a meeting on "Magnetic Reconnection and the
Dynamic Sun" in St. Andrews, Scotland, Sep. 4-11.
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Alumni
Kevin
Rosen, BS '03, and ace PEDL manager. He seems most excited about his new
position as a Field Engineer for Electro Mechanical Industries. (EMI) It
is a small company with sales of about $8M that builds and maintains,
among other things, large custom backup generator systems for industrial
applications. They are expecting
to see a surge in sales thanks to the reality check delivered by the
"Great Blackout of 2003." They have customers in several mid-western
states and Arizona. Kevin, who will be replacing an engineer that recently
left the company, will be responsible for integrating site and electrical
load information with off-the-shelf hardware to design these custom units.
He will supervise the company technicians that perform the actual
installation and will be present at start-up of the system.
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Publications
"Analyzing powers for pi-p elastic scattering at 279
MeV'', G. J. Hofman, J. Breitschopf, K. Craig, H. Denz, E.F. Gibson, E.L.
Mathie, R. Meier, M.M. Pavan, C.M. Riedel, R. Tacik, and G. J. Wagner,
Physical Review C 68, 018202 (2003).
"What is the role of the kink instability in solar coronal eruptions?"
Leamon, R. J., Canfield, R. C., Blehm, Z., and Pevtsov, A. A.,
Astrophysical Journal Letters, 596, L255, 2003.
"Grain size effects on the optical characteristics of pulsed-laser
deposited vanadium oxide thin films", C.V. Ramana, R.J. Smith, O.M.
Hussain, Phys. Stat. Sol (a), No 1, 3-10 (2003).
"Material Optimization of Er3+:Y2SiO5 at 1.5 mm for Optical Processing,
Memory, and Laser Frequency Stabilization Applications", Thomas Böttger,
Y. Sun, C. W. Thiel, and R. L. Cone, Proceedings of SPIE, Vol. 4988, 51-61
(2003).
"Temperature and Concentration Dependence of Optical Dephasing, Spectral
Hole Lifetime, and Anisotropic Absorption in Eu3+:Y2SiO5", Flurin Könz, Y.
Sun, C. W. Thiel, R. L. Cone, R. W. Equall, R. L. Hutcheson, and R. M.
Macfarlane, Phys. Rev. B. 68, 085109 (2003) 9 pages: 085109-1 to 085109-9.
Publications Submitted
"Iron Line Profiles from X-Ray Flaring Accretion
Flows in AGSs", Keigo Fukumura and Sachiko Tsuruta, Astrophysical Journal.
"Local ferromagnetic order in hole-doped LaMnO3", Hirotoshi Terashita and
J. J. Neumeier, submitted to Phys. Rev. B.
"Epitaxial growth of thin Fe films on Al(100) surfaces using Ti as an
interface stabilizer",
C. V. Ramana, N. Winward and R.J. Smith, Bum-Sik Choi , Physical Review B,
Sep. 2003.
"Spectral Hole Burning and Energy Level Structure of Tb3+:LiYF4", C. W.
Thiel, Y. Sun, R. W. Equall, and R. L. Cone, submitted to J. Lumin.
(2003).
"Optical Dephasing by Disorder Modes in Yttrium Orthosilicate (Y2SiO5)
doped with Eu3+", R. M. Macfarlane, Y. Sun, R. L. Cone, C. W. Thiel, and
R. W. Equall, submitted to J. Lumin. (2003).
Publications Accepted
"Inhomogeneous magnetism in La-doped CaMnO3. (I) Nanometric –scale spin
clusters and long-range spin canting", E. Granado, C. D. Ling, J,. J.
Neumeier, J. W. Lynn, and D. N. Argyriou, accepted for publication in
Physical Review B.
"Inhomogeneous magnetism in La-doped CaMnO3. (II) Phase separation due to
lattice-coupled FM interactions", C. D. Ling, E. Granado, J,. J. Neumeier, J. W.
Lynn, and D. N. Argyriou, accepted for publication in Physical Review B.
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New to the Department
Dr. Peter Sellin joined Rufus Cone in September 2003
as a Research Scientist working on frequency stabilization of CW and mode
locked lasers to spectral holes. Peter has a record of contributions to
the Physics Department, The Spectrum Lab, and The Digital Photonics Group
and completed his Ph. D. with Thomas Mossberg at the University of Oregon.
Casey Dodge, with at B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MSU, joined the
Cone/Sun group as a Research Associate in September 2003.
Ted Armstrong, a junior in Physics at MSU, worked in the Cone/Sun group
and John Getty to carry out undergraduate research on optical detector
development during summer 2003 and continues to work on an optical
spectroscopy project in Autumn Semester 2003.
Dr. Annabelle Collombet is joining the Cone/Sun group as a postdoctoral
fellow with a Lavoisier Fellowship from the French government. She
completed her Ph.D. with Dr. Marie-France Joubert on "Spectroscopy of
Nd3+-doped crystals and study of their potentialities for the realisation
of tunable solid-state laser sources in the UV spectral range" at
Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Matériaux Luminescents, Université Lyon,
France. She will be working with Charles Thiel and Yongchen Sun on studies
of band states and ion levels in rare earth crystals by photoemission and
other techniques such as photoconductivity and two-photon spectroscopy.
Cooper McCann is working on optical spectroscopy of Yb3+:YAG crystals with
Yongchen Sun. During the summer 2003, Cooper joined the group of Jun Ye at
JILA, NIST, and the Department of Physics of the University of Colorado,
Boulder, Colorado, on a Research Experience for Undergraduates program.
Dustin Rich, now an Assistant Shift Test Engineer in the Nuclear Test
Engineering organization at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, visited Rufus
Cone and Norm Williams during September 2003. Dustin worked in the
Cone/Sun group for two years while he was an undergraduate at MSU in
Mechanical Engineering.
Tom Böttger has left the Cone/Sun group and accepted a tenure-track
Assistant Professor position in the Physics Department at the University
of San Francisco, San Francisco, California. Tom will be setting up a
diode laser laboratory and inherited considerable laboratory equipment.
Gregory D. Reinemer has left the Cone/Sun group and accepted a position as
Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and
Astronomy at Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho. Gregory is also
teaching a distance learning course in special relativity. http://www.scienceteacher.org/f03/phys403.htm
http://btc.montana.edu/outreach/courses.html
Dr. Laurent Bigot of Alcatel Research and Innovation, Marcoussis, France,
visited the Cone/Sun group August 1-14, 2003, for spectroscopy and
spectral hole burning experiments characterizing Er3+ doped glasses used
for optical fiber amplifiers.
Dr. Michelle Larson joins the Department as Deputy
Director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium
Welcome also to the first year graduate students:
 Richard
Bollinger |
Vincent Corbin |
Silvina Guidoni |
AdriaUpdyke |
Malina Kirn |
Micheal Kopczyk |
 Tyson Littenberg |
Chih-Long Tsai |
Mehmet Unver |
Patricia Jibben |
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Poster Presentations
"Water Vapor Differential Absorption Lidar
using Tunable Diode Lasers", M. Obland, Optical Science and Laser Technology
Conference, Sep. 19-20.
"Characteristics of Highly Efficient True-Time Delay Photon Echoes", Hongyan
Li, Optical Science and Laser Technology Conference, Sep. 19-20.
"Normalization Differential Detection using Smart Pixels with Smart
Illumination", James Muray, Daryn Benson, Robert Regester, Kevin Repasky,
and Wm. Randall Babbitt, Optical Science and Laser Technology Conference,
Sep. 19-20.
"Techniques of Absolute Measurement of Two-photon Cross Section:
Fluorescence versus Z-Scan", Yuliya Dzenis, Optical Science and Laser
Technology Conference, Sep. 19-20.
"Tunneling Splitting of Vibronic Lines in Porhycene", Yuriy Stepanenko,
Optical Science and Laser Technology Conference, Sep. 19-20.
"Transient and Permanent Spectral Hole Burning in Er3+-Doped Glasses", Y.
Sun, T. Böttger, R. L. Cone, L. Bigot, Alcatel; S. Choblet, A-M. Jurdyc, and
B. Jacquier, Optical Science and Laser Technology Conference, Bozeman, MT,
September 19-20.
"Overview of Cone/Sun Group Activities on Optical Material Design and
Character-ization", R. L. Cone, Y. Sun, C. W. Thiel, Thomas Böttger, Gregory
Reinemer, Peter B. Sellin, and Annabelle Collombet, Optical Science and
Laser Technology Conference, Bozeman, MT, September 19-20.
"Molecular Beam Characterization of Jordan Valve", Cooper P. McCann, J. R.
Bochinski, E. R. Hudson, H. J. Lewandowski, and Jun Ye, JILA and National
Institute of Standards and Technology, University of Colorado, Boulder,
Colorado.
"Progenitors to Geoeffective Coronal Mass Ejections: Filaments and Sigmoids",
by David McKenzie and Robert Leamon, presented at the Prominence Working
Group meeting, September 30, at MSU-Bozeman.
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