物理系

Dr. 埃里克•威尔斯’ research work is centered around understanding and controlling molecular dynamics in strong laser fields.

Ultrashort laser pulses have properties that suggest they might be used to directly influence chemical reactions: The force exerted by the laser field can be comparable to the electric force that holds a molecule together, 和 pulse can be turned on and off before the molecule will move significantly. 因此, precise application of a customized laser pulse to an individual molecule might enable the modification of the molecule in a targeted, 所期望的方式. The Augustana atomic, molecular & optical (AMO) physics group developed a method for coupling three-dimensional ion-imaging of molecular fragments to a feedback loop that uses an adaptive learning algorithm to design laser pulses that can control specific molecular processes, such as hydrogen migration and bond rearrangement.

Augustana students carry out this work using the laser facilities of the J.R. 麦克唐纳实验室 at 堪萨斯州立大学 as part of a long-standing collaboration between the two institutions.

Thirty-two undergraduate students have co-authored 22 different articles as part of the work of the Augustana AMO. The research is supported by the 国家科学基金会. 井’ sabbatical leaves at Kansas State have been supported by the U.S. 能源部.

Representative Publications (AU indicates an Augustana undergraduate co-author)

1. Travis Severt, 埃莉诺Weckwerth^AU, Balram Kaderiya, Peyman Feizollah, Bethany Jochim, Kurtis Borne, Farzaneh Ziaee Kanaka Raju P.凯文·D. 肉体, 马科斯Dantus, 丹尼尔·罗尔, Artem Rudenko, 埃里克•威尔斯, 和Itzik 账户, “Initial state characterization of hydrogen migration in ethanol”, submitted to Nature Communications (2023).

2. T. 达尔文·塞维特. 多加德，提安娜·汤森^AU, F. Ziaee K. 承担,年代. Bhattacharyya K.D. 肉体,维. 滚,. Rudenko E. 威尔斯和我. 账户. “Two-body dissociation of formic acid following double ionization by ultrafast laser pulses”. 理论物理. 牧师. A 105, 053112 (2022).
   DOI: 10.1103 / 理论物理牧师A.105.053112

3. 蒂安娜汤森^AU查尔斯·J. 施瓦兹^AU, Bethany Jochim, Kanaka Raju P., T. Severt，岩本直树^AU, J.L. Napierala^AU佩曼·费佐拉(Peyman Feizollah)， S.N. Tegegn^AU, A. 所罗门,年代. 赵^AU, K.D. 肉体,我. 账户和E. 井, “Controlling H3+ formation from ethane using shaped ultrafast laser pulses.” Frontiers in 物理 9, 691727 (2021).  DOI: 10.3389 / fphy.2021.691727.

4. Naoki Iwamoto^AU查尔斯·J. 施瓦兹^AU, Bethany Jochim, Kanaka Raju P.佩曼·费佐拉，J.L. Napeirala^AU, T. Severt,年代.N. Tegegn^AU, A. 所罗门^AU, S. 赵^AU, Huynh Lam, Tomthin Nganba Wangjam, V. Kumarappan K.D. 肉体,我. Ben-Itzak和E. 井, “Strong-field control of H3+ production from methanol dications: Selecting between local and extended formation mechanisms”, J. 化学. 理论物理. 152, 054302 (2020). DOI: 10.1063/1.5129946

5. E. 井,C.E. 秧鸡亚目^AU, M. Zohrabi R. Siemering B. Jochim^AU, P.R. 安德鲁斯^AU, U. Ablikim B. Gaire,年代. 德,K.D. 肉体,B. Bergues R. 德维维-里德尔，M.F. 克林和我. 账户, “Adaptive Strong-field Control of 化学ical Dynamics Guided by Three-dimensional Momentum Imaging”, Nature Communications 4:2895 (2013). DOI: 10.1038 / ncomms3895

Dr. 内森格劳's research is focused on understanding the strong nuclear force responsible for binding protons and neutrons in nuclei and energy generation in the sun.

He and his students do this with collisions of nuclei at high speeds. Augustana is a member institution of several experiments located at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York: the 凤凰合作, sPHENIX协作 和ePIC合作. These collaborations built large high-energy physics detectors to collect data at a collider accelerator. The PHENIX experiment collected data until 2016 at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The sPHENIX detector is the successor detector and is taking first data during 2023. The ePIC detector is the project detector for the future 电子离子对撞机.

格劳 has mentored dozens of students over the past decade. His research has continuously been funded by a Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) grant from the 国家科学基金会 自2013年以来.

Representative Publications (AU indicates an Augustana undergraduate co-author)

1. C.A. 援助ala等人. "Design and test beam results for a 2D projective sPHENIX Electromagnetic Calorimeter Prototype" IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 68(2), 173–181 (2021)
2. U. Acharya等人. (凤凰合作) "Measurement of jet-medium interactions via direct photon-hadron correlations in Au+Au and d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV" 理论物理. 牧师. C102 054910 (2020)
3. A. Adare等人. (凤凰合作) "Measurement of two-particle correlations with respect to second and third order event planes" 理论物理. 牧师. C99, 054903 (2019)
4.  A. Adare等人. (凤凰合作) "Transverse momentum broadening in dihadron angular correlations in $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV p+Au collisions" 理论物理. 牧师. C99, 044912 (2019)
5.  A. Adare等人. (凤凰合作) "Heavy flavor electron-muon correlations in p+p and d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV" 理论物理. 牧师. C89, 034915 (2014)
6. M. Wussow^AU 和N. 格劳, “Determination of the quark content of scalar mesons using hydrodynamical flow in heavy ion collisions” 理论物理. 牧师. C 84, 054902 (2011).

Dr. Drew Alton's research is focused on weakly interacting particles, lately in the form of Dark Matter, but before that in terms of understanding the W/Z boson and neutrino interactions.

He helps preparations for the new DarkSide-20k experiment, which is under construction 在意大利 and expected to begin operating in 2026. DarkSide-50, its predecessor, operated for about five years in Gran Sasso National Laboratory 在意大利. Alton and various AU students worked on developing a precise energy measurement, which could be used to understand backgrounds and test the stability and data quality of the experiment.

Alton has also recently joined the Deep Underground Neutrino (沙丘) experiment, which is expected to begin operating in approximately 2030.

Representative Publications (AU indicates an Augustana undergraduate co-author)

1. P. 艾格尼丝，这是特雷·沃尔德洛^AU 等., “Low-Mass Dark Matter 搜索 with the DarkSide-50 Experiment”, 理论物理. 牧师. 列托语. 121(2018), 081307.
2. P. 艾格尼丝，这是特雷·沃尔德洛^AU 等., “DarkSide-50 532-day Dark Matter 搜索 with Low-Radioactivity Argon”, 理论物理. 牧师. D98(2018), 102006.
3. P. 艾格尼丝等人., “Results from the First Use of Low Radioactivity Argon in a Dark Matter 搜索”, 理论物理. 牧师. D93(2016), 081101.
4. T. 亚历山大^AU等。., “Light Yield in DarkSide-10: a Prototype Two-phase Argon TPC for Dark Matter 搜索es”, Astropart.理论物理.49(2013) 44-51.
5. A. 奥尔顿和T. 亚历山大^AU, “Possible explanation for NuTeV’s anomalous dimuon events”, 理论物理. 牧师. D83:115018 (2011).

All of the physics faculty members — Dr. 德鲁·奥尔顿博士. 艾米·恩杰布雷森博士. 内森格劳和Dr. 埃里克•威尔斯 — are interested in a research-based understanding of the craft of physics instruction.

Through memberships in groups such as the American Association of 物理 Teachers, Partnership for Integration of Computation into Undergraduate 物理, Advanced Laboratory 物理 Association 和 美国科学学会教育论坛, we stay informed on the best practices in physics education. The department’s implementation and assessment of research-based educational practices has led to national recognition from the American 物理 Society.

Engebretson has a special interest in how the effectiveness of group problem solving is affected by the distribution of genders within the group.

Representative Publications (AU indicates an Augustana undergraduate co-author)

1. K. 米勒^AU 和N. 格劳 "Design and implementation of observational astronomy laboratory components for introductory astronomy at Augustana University" Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science 97, 209-220 (2018).
2. A. 奥尔顿,N. 格劳和E. 井, “Off-site collaborations as a model for sustainable undergraduate physics research at small colleges”, vignette contributed to online resource promoting undergraduate physics research. Sponsored by the American 理论物理ical Society, Council on 本科研究, American Association of 物理 Teachers, 和 Society of 物理 Students (2015).