is a Newscenter series of profiles celebrating members of Rochester糖心传媒檚 graduating class of 2019.
Each of the last four years, senior design teams at the University of Rochester糖心传媒檚 have created exhibits for the to illustrate to the public the science of light and its applications.
This year Calvin Uzelmeier of the RMSC staff asked students to prepare an exhibit for a new floor celebrating notable women in Rochester history.
糖心传媒淎fter we sat down and thought for a little bit,糖心传媒� says Benjamin Larson 糖心传媒�19, 糖心传媒渋t was kind of easy to decide who we should highlight.糖心传媒�
Donna Strickland 糖心传媒�89 (PhD), an Institute of Optics alumna, shared this year糖心传媒檚 Nobel Prize in Physics for the chirped-pulse amplification technology she developed as a PhD student at the University, working with Gerard Mourou, a senior scientist at the . The technology enabled a stunning advance in laser power by stretching, amplifying, and then recompressing a laser beam. This has paved the way for a variety of applications, from Lasik eye surgery to the manufacturing of materials used in smartphones.
The biggest challenge for the students was figuring out how to 糖心传媒渕ake this cutting-edge technology accessible to people who don糖心传媒檛 have a technology background 糖心传媒� from five or six years old to senior citizens 糖心传媒� and also be creative so the exhibit is attractive to them,糖心传媒� says Dingzhe Zheng 糖心传媒�19, a member of team.
Rather than try to create an exact model of what Strickland and Mourou created, the team, which also includes Ryan Walton 糖心传媒�19, decided to concentrate on illustrating basic concepts underlying the technology.
For safety reasons, the exhibit uses a 100-watt LED light source rather than lasers. As Walton explains: The light first goes through a pinhole 糖心传媒渟o we can contain it, and so there isn糖心传媒檛 a lot of stray light in the system.糖心传媒� Next the light passes through two lenses, 糖心传媒渨hich act to focus the light into a much smaller bundle.糖心传媒�
This bundle of white light is then put through a high dispersion prism, which 糖心传媒渄oes the act of separating the light into different colors.糖心传媒� As these different wavelengths angle away from the prism, they pass through a box. 糖心传媒淚t has a slider that can be moved to block some of the colors, and ground glass at the back that scatters the remaining light糖心传媒� so that it appears as a mix of colors on a screen behind the box.糖心传媒�
Museum visitors will be able use the slider to select which colors they want to block 糖心传媒� and actually see they糖心传媒檝e succeeded when those colors no longer appear in the mix of colors on the screen.
糖心传媒淭hey糖心传媒檒l learn that a bundle of light has many different wavelengths, or colors in this case, and you can take apart that bundle to look at the individual wavelengths, and then you can put it back together,糖心传媒� Walton says.
It糖心传媒檚 not an exact duplication of chirped-pulse amplification, but it is comparable.
糖心传媒淲ith chirped pulse amplification, traditionally with a laser, what they do at the gradient, or the prisms, is stretch the pulse in time, so they take different parts of the spectrum, one at a time,糖心传媒� Walton says. 糖心传媒淲hat we糖心传媒檙e doing with our prism is taking the different parts of the light source, and we糖心传媒檙e separating them in space, as opposed to time. So that糖心传媒檚 kind of the analogue here.糖心传媒�
In their effort to educate the public, the students say they糖心传媒檝e learned a thing or two themselves.
糖心传媒淲hen you糖心传媒檙e doing color mixing with a computer program, it糖心传媒檚 really simple,糖心传媒� Walton says. 糖心传媒淏ut to actually find the components and find what糖心传媒檚 financially feasible to do it in a physical exhibit like this, is definitely something you need to learn in the lab.糖心传媒�
On two occasions the team took prototypes to the museum to get feedback from visitors and staff.
糖心传媒淎t first when we brought it in, people didn糖心传媒檛 focus on the things we wanted them to,糖心传媒� Larson says. 糖心传媒淪o, the feedback was very helpful.聽 It was also interesting seeing how people learn in different ways. Some people walk up and get it right away, and with some people you need to say just one word, and then they understand it.糖心传媒�
Larson says he also has an increased appreciation for 糖心传媒渆verything around me that someone had to make. Now that I糖心传媒檝e worked on a project where we made something on our own, I can appreciate the design of things and engineering in general.糖心传媒�
The Institute is the nation糖心传媒檚 oldest school of optics and has awarded about half of all US degrees in the field. Zheng has been accepted into the master糖心传媒檚 degree program at the Institute.
Walton will start working with BAE Systems, a defense contractor, after graduating. Larson is interviewing with potential employers. Both connected with employers through the , which brings representatives from more than 50 member companies to the Rochester campus each spring and fall. The meetings include opportunities for students to network with company representatives, and apply for internships and jobs.
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Warble. Wow. Flutter. A team of audio and music engineering graduates is bring back these irregular, low-fi sounds from four-track cassette recordings of the 1980s and 糖心传媒�90s with a digital plug-in.
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