2006 Condensed Matter Physics REU Participant Projects
Montana State University REU Program

Marc Binney, Winona State University, Winona, MN; Advisor: Richard Smith

Oxidation Resistance of SOFC Interconnect Coatings

The stacked cells in a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) are separated by current collecting interconnect components which are exposed to high temperatures (800 ˚C) during operation. These interconnects must maintain chemical, thermal-mechanical, and electrical stability during the lifetime of the fuel cell. This summer project will test proposed interconnect designs by subjecting them to typical operating conditions, and analyzing the oxidation rates as well as the diffusion from the substrate. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy will be used in this analysis.
Michael Carroll, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Advisors: Jiapeng Han and Hugo Schmidt

Production of Ceramic Powders for use in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Ceramic perovskite (AB03) type powders were produced and processed for use as components in solid oxide fuel cells.  Solutions of different compositions were produced and boiled down to be "exploded" into ceramic powder using the glycine-nitrate process.  This process involved combusting the solution to achieve very small particle sizes.  The resulting powder is then collected and processed by means of grinding, calcining, and sintering to produce the desired SOFC components.
Matt Fletcher, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA
Advisors: Mingzhen Tian and R. Babbitt

New Materials for Injection Locking of LASERS

Previous work in Dr. Babbitt's lab has investigated the use of Tm:YAG crystals for injection-locking of LASERS.  This research project will investigate the possibility of using a different host crystal: LiNbO3 which most notably has a different wavelength and Rabi frequency.  If this works I will spend the rest of my time characterizing the output.  If it doesn't work I imagine I will spend a very long time trying to make it work anyhow, just to prove that it doesn't.  Then I'd probably help Chris on his project.
Max Hansen, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Advisor: Yves Idzerda

This project uses the Surface Magento-Optic Kerr Effect (SMOKE) to detect the magnetic moment of specimens by reflecting light on the sample's surface.  If a sample has magnetic moment, it will rotate and change the ellipticity of linearly polarized light.  The technique is very useful for in situ measurements, for example in vacuum.  This technique will be used to study how annealing affects the magnetism of thin-film specimens.
Kathleen Lask, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale, Carbondale, IL
Advisors: Jose Souza and John Neumeier
Construction of a Thermal Expansion Device for High Resolution Measurements at
High Temperature

An oven will be constructed for measuring the thermal expansion of materials from room temperature to 600 ˚C. It will employ a thermal expansion cell constructed entirely from fused quartz which will detect length changes at the 0.1 Å level. This device will be used to measure the paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition in copper oxides which are closely related to high-temperature superconductors.

Charles (Chaz) Miller, Muskingum College, New Concord, OH
Advisors: Jiapeng Han and Hugo Schmidt
Electrical and Chemical Characterization of Proton Conducting Ceramic Materials

This project involves the characterization of proton conducting ceramic materials for use in fuel cells and hydrogen purification.  Both bulk and thick-film samples of these materials will be analyzed using impedence spectroscopy and gas chromatography, both at high temperatures. Knowledge of the physical, chemical and electrical properties of these materials is very important for developing viable Solid Oxide Fuel Cells.
Jamy Moreno, Stockton State College, Pomona, NJ
Advisors: Carlos dos Santos and John Neumeier

Analysis of the Physical Properties of the Purple Bronze Compound Li0.9Mo6O17

This project will investigate the properties of a compound that this thought to be the best example of a Luttinger Liquid, a mathematical problem solved exactly in 1963. Single crystals will be grown using the flux method. The superconducting transition temperature will be investigated to see if it is dependent on the chemical composition and oxygen content by post annealling of the samples. Measurements will be conducted down to 0.3 K using the Helium-3 option of MSU's Physical Properties Measurement System.
Jamie Niesz, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; Advisor: Recep Avci

Stimulated receptor-ligand interaction and its measurement using atomic force spectrometry

Currently in ICAL investigation is taking place regarding the measurement of single molecule receptor-ligand interactions involving biological systems in their physiological environment.   This involves tethering a ligand molecule, such as an antibody, to the apex of an AFM tip and allowing the ligand molecule to interact with its counterpart (receptor molecule) immobilized on a substrate.  Conventionally this is done by moving the AFM tip up and down with a frequency of about 1Hz, and waiting for a ligand-receptor interaction to take place.  This approach can be likened to “fishing on the nanoscale,” and usually requires multiple oscillations before a connection is made.  In order to increase the efficiency of this process, we are constructing a circuit to add a smaller oscillating signal of about 10 to 20 kHz over the top of the existing signal.  The resulting signal would combine the large oscillations (~ 200-400 nm amplitude) with small amplitude oscillations (~1 nm), with the intention of stimulating ligand-receptor interactions hence increasing the rate at which these interactions take place with higher efficiency.

Desiree Peone, Salish and Kootenai College, Pablo, MT; Advisor: Aleks Rebane
Two-Photon Optical Storage Materials

New generation volumetric optical disk storage technology requires a special type of organic photochromic compounds with high two photon absorption cross section. This project will investigate tetrapyrroles (mostly phthalocyanines) and their  non-linear absorption- and photochemical properties. The goal is to measure  the two photon spectra of a series of compounds that we obtained through our industrial partner (Ciba Speciality Chemicals). Previoulsy we have measured the photochemical switching behavior of the same molecules. Together with the new measurements this will give us a very good comprehensive picture of these materials.
Chris Stocking, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Advisors: Mingzhen Tian and Randall Babbitt

Optical Excitation of Two-level Systems

The project I am working on requires a relatively high powered laser light source with a very narrow linewidth and low intensity noise.  To achieve this, I will be using a method known as injection-locking which uses a low-power single-frequency laser to force a laser of greater power, though larger phase and intensity noise, to operate with the same characteristics as the low-power laser.  Then, we will use an acousto-optic modulator to pulse the injection-locked laser in order to study the most effective ways of creating a population inversion in Tm:YAG crystals.  We will also monitor the time decay of these population inversions using the same laser.
Michael Sykora, University of Wisconsin - River Falls, River Falls, WI; Advisor: Alan Craig
Microsphere Resonances with Circular Polarization

The interaction of light with nanoparticles has been described by Mie scattering. When the nanoparticles are metallic (or conductive), surface plasmons play a significant role in the interaction. For linearly polarized light, the boundary condition problem for spherical metallic nanoparticles has been described in the early literature as having no exact solutions, although scattering still occurs. In fact, surface plasmons can dramatically enhance nanoparticle scattering for non-spherical geometries in linearly polarized light. This project is based on the hypothesis that circularly polarized light will admit exact solutions on spherical metallic nanoparticles, an will experimentally examine the dependence of the spectral signature on sphere radius. Both pure metal spheres and meallized polystyrene spheres are available commercially with well-characterized sizes as small as 10 nm. The dependence of the resonant line-center frequency and the resonance linewidth on optical polarization (linear vs. circular) will be determined, both at room temperature and 4 K where line broadening phonon interactions are suppressed.
Davis Taylor, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA; Advisor: Stephen Sofie

The Effects of Active and Inert Fillers on the Physical and Electrochemical Properties of
Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Components

One issue in the design of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) is the varying thermal expansion of the Anode, the Cathode and the Electrolyte at operating temperature.  Currently the Anode material, Ni/YSZ, has a coefficient of
thermal expansion (cte) that is about 20% larger than that of other SOFC components, which can cause the fuel cells to fracture at operating temperatures, thus causing cell failure.  The focus of my project will be to look at the thermal properties relating to oxygen stoichiometry for an active filler (SrTiO3, cte 7-10) and an inert filler (Al2TiO3, cte 0.68). Further, the effects of these fillers on the overall thermal expansion of Ni/YSZ anodes will be examined.