Electrostatic interactions mediated by ionic environments play a central role in physical processes across materials science, chemistry and biology. Key biological phenomena, such as the condensation and packaging of DNA, ion transport across cellular membranes and the enzymatic action of proteins, rely on the complex interplay between nanoscale electrostatic, osmotic...
Valence-to-core (vtc) x-ray emission spectra (XES) provides direct information on occupied valence orbitals and is sensitive to chemical environment. Combining with element specificity and high penetration of hard x-rays, it is emerging as an information-rich technique and its applications have been demonstrated in research fields, such as catalysis and metalloenzymes....
Optical interferometers and resonators are commonly used for precision measurement. These devices can accurately measure the phase shifts of light induced by small changes in the optical path in the device. To meet the need for ultra-sensitive measurement, researchers have developed various approaches to build better and more sensitive devices....
Quantum metrology has been among the most vigorous branches of quantum technology. It involves using quantum effects to achieve better estimation of parameters of a physical sys- tem. Conventionally the system consists of an ensemble of N non-interacting atoms and the measurements are done on individual atomic states, such as...
Nonlinear systems with many interacting components often exhibit behaviors that cannot be anticipated, even in principle, by only knowing the properties of the constituent parts and thereby emerge as a result of interactions between the parts. Examples of such systems range from power grids and financial markets to food networks...
Understanding how spin waves propagate through ferromagnets is an important component of a wider international effort to create spintronic devices. In this thesis, we develop a propagating spin wave spectroscopy to make a variety of measurements on thin films of Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG), a material known for having long...
Two unique structures make up the nucleus of our Galaxy on different scale sizes. On a broad scale of a few hundreds of parsecs, there is the well-known central molecular zone which comprises a substantial component of the gas in the Galaxy. The other, known as the mini-spiral, is streamers...
I present the body of work I have pursued over the course of my doctoral study at Northwestern University. First, I conduct an analysis of the measurement abilities of distinctive LISA detector designs, examining the influence of LISA's low-frequency performance on the detection and characterization of massive black hole binaries....
Although flowing granular materials have been formally studied for over two hundred years, their behavior is still poorly understood relative to fluids, solids, and gases. Sheared granular materials with differing particle properties (e.g., size, density, shape) segregate (de-mix) due to percolation (small particles fall between large ones) and buoyancy (light...
In 2018, our ATRAP collaboration produced 5 trapped antihydrogen atoms per hour long trial. An apparatus with a Ioffe octupole trap and a faster magnet dump was used to confine and detect trapped antihydrogen atoms. This apparatus is unique in that four sideports spaced at 90 degrees from each other...