The discovery of high critical temperature superconductors (HTSC) has raised the temperature at which the greatly reduced surface resistance, characteristic of superconducting materials, may be exploited. For microwave frequencies below 100 GHz, the surface resistance, R{dollar}\sb{lcub}s{rcub}{dollar}, at liquid nitrogen temperatures (77K) of the new HTSC materials is found to be better than copper measured at the same temperature and frequency. Consequently, the miniaturization of passive microwave components will be among the first applications of these new materials. This dissertation details the development, testing and evaluation of a superconducting compact hydrogen maser resonator made from electrophoretic Y{dollar}\sb1Ba\sb2Cu\sb3{dollar}O{dollar}\sb{lcub}7-\delta{rcub}{dollar} (YBCO). Such a resonator could sustain active maser oscillation and would therefore be an excellent compact frequency source. This compact maser could yield significant volume and weight savings for space applications where masers are used as frequency standards. The compact resonator is a loop-gap (split-ring) lumped element resonator similar to that previously suggested for compact maser applications. This resonator is made superconducting using an electrophoretic process developed for the deposition of thick film polycrystalline HTSC on large non-planar metallic substrates. The low R{dollar}\sb{lcub}s{rcub}{dollar} of the YPCO deposited onto the surface of the electrode loading structure, inside of the loop-gap resonator, yields cavity quality factors comparable to those of the much larger TE{dollar}\sb{lcub}011{rcub}{dollar} maser resonator but in a much smaller package. The fields of the loop-gap resonator are uniform in the hydrogen interaction region. However, in the neighborhood of the electrodes, the fields are analogous to the TEM fields associated with stripline geometries. These microwave fields have been investigated by numerical analysis and the dependence of the filling factor, ({dollar}\eta\sp\prime{dollar}) and the cavity quality factor, (Q{dollar}\sb{lcub}c{rcub}{dollar}), as a function of the cavity dimensions is discussed. With this information, the cavity design has been optimized to find the cavity size and shape that will yield the lowest Allan deviation with respect to the random thermal frequency fluctuations.

This dissertation reports the theoretical interpretation of the measured absorption spectrum of hydrogen atoms in crossed electric and magnetic fields. Closed-orbit theory is modified from two-dimensions to three-dimensions to interpret the large scale structure in the absorption spectrum. A new computational method---a Chirped-Fourier-Transform---is developed to extract the closed orbits from an energy spectrum. A quantitative model is provided to calculate the continuum absorption. We prove that the observed continuum absorption is proportional to the flux of electrons along trajectories which escape within a short time. Einstein-Brillouin-Keller (EBK) quantization theory is applied to obtain an approximate energy spectrum. Our results prove that some of the observed regular quasidiscrete states correspond to quantized regular tori. This thesis also includes a new theoretical study of bifurcation patterns of planar closed orbits.

Lithium ion batteries are ubiquitous in modern life, from powering hand-held electronic devices to electric vehicles. And with the necessary drive toward renewable energy sources like solar and wind, electricity storage for the grid promises to drive up the demand for higher performing, less expensive, safer, and more environmentally friendly secondary batteries. Recent research has theorized that replacing halogens in batteries’ electrolytes with non-halogens can yield desirable performance characteristics while eliminating the most dangerous and problematic chemicals. This thesis explores the possibility that a similar approach can be taken with the cathodes of lithium ion batteries. The active material in a cathode is a salt composed of an alkali cation – the positive lithium ion, and a negative ion – usually a metal oxide. Replacing the negative ion with a superhalogen, which is more electronegative than the most electronegative element, may yield comparable electronic properties to current cathode materials while also opening up opportunities to research materials previously not considered for lithium ion battery cathodes.

Multi Angle Laser Light Scattering (MALLS) and Frequency Dependent Electromagnetic Sensing (FDEMS) provide unique characterizations of polymer systems during cure and use-aging. This research illustrates how MALLS is an extremely accurate technique for absolute characterization of macromolecules, giving molecular weight and size information that other widely used and accepted techniques are incapable of measuring. Application of MALLS to monitoring the changing state of a polyamide-11 system in a water aging environment led to the discovery of an equilibrium molecular weight which is the result of two competing reactions, hydrolysis-degradation and a newly discovered recombination-polymerization reaction. The discovery of this recombination reaction creates the possibility of an indefinitely healthy polyamide-11 polymer system. FDEMS successfully monitored changing water content and degree of cure of a moisture-curing adhesive polymer. The data show potential for total in situ cure characterization by FDEMS, including in situ determinations of moisture diffusion rates during a polymer cure in the adhesive bondline.

The characterization of narrow distributions of structural and motional parameters, and their evolution during the broad glass transition, is performed for deuterated PAMAM dendrimer salts using solid state NMR. The broadening of deuteron quadrupole echo (QE) lineshapes is consistent with the presence of narrow hydrogen bond length distribution (sigmar < 0.25 A) at the spacer amide and branching tertiary amine sites. The temperature dependent averaging of the experimental lineshapes is explained on the basis of fast planar librations in the dendrimer interior, and fast rotation and intermediate regime libration (in an asymmetric cone) of the dendrimer termini. The amplitudes of libration are temperature dependent and higher for low generation dendrimers, while librational rates show Arrhenius behavior only within the glass transition region. In this region, the width of log-normal distribution of rates increases with temperature at sites associated with chlorine counterions. The largest distributions are still less than one order of magnitude wide, unlike the dendrimer in solution or the linear polymers. Interpenetrated low generations (G < 3), uniform intermediate generations (G = 3--5) with surface network, and backfolded high generations (G > 5), are distinguished by interior and termini dynamics.;In the regime of fast motion QE lineshapes are highly sensitive to the presence of narrow structural and motional parameter distributions, and provide constraints on motional geometry independent of rates. The precise characterization of narrow log-normal rate distributions in the intermediate regime can be done using 2H magic angle spinning (MAS). Deuteron inversion-recovery techniques provide quantitative information on the rates of fast motion. For PAMAM salts, the influence of narrow distributions of structural and motional parameters, and fast planar libration, is negligible for distance determination using Rotational Echo Double Resonance (REDOR). The discrimination between inter- and intra-molecular hydrogen bonding can be done through selective labeling of dendrimer core and termini and dilution in natural abundance samples according to developed strategies. The internuclear distances evaluated on the basis of QE results are 3.4--4.0 A. These fall within the sensitivity range of 13C-15N REDOR, as exemplified by the measurements on small amino acids according to analytically predicted optimum dephasing scheme.

We examine the problem of the dynamics of a hexagonal close packed crystal with a single substitutional impurity. The effects of the mass and the force constant changes due to the introduction of the impurity atom are taken into account assuming nearest neighbor interactions under the harmonic approximation. Using Green’s function and group theoretical methods, the equations of motion for the perturbed normal modes are obtained in an exact form. The calculations are performed by allowing for very general force constant changes which can have noncentral as well as central contributions. The analytical expressions obtained expressions obtained by Mannheim and Cohen for cubic systems.

Nonclassical states of light are of increasing interest due to their applications in the emerging field of quantum information processing and communication. Squeezed light is such a state of the electromagnetic field in which the quantum noise properties are altered compared with those of coherent light. Squeezed light and squeezed vacuum states are potentially useful for quantum information protocols as well as optical measurements, where sensitivities can be limited by quantum noise. We experimentally study a source of squeezed vacuum resulting from the interaction of near-resonant light with both cold and hot Rb atoms via the nonlinear polarization self-rotation effect (PSR). We investigate the optimal conditions for noise reduction in the resulting squeezed states, reaching quadrature squeezing levels of up to 2.6 dB below shot noise, as well as observing noise reduction for a broad range of detection frequencies, from tens of kHz to several MHz. We use this source of squeezed vacuum at 795 nm to further study the noise properties of these states and how they are affected by resonant atomic interactions. This includes the use of a squeezed light probe to give a quantum enhancement to an optical magnetometer, as well as studying the propagation of squeezed vacuum in an atomic medium under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We also investigate the propagation of pulses of quantum squeezed light through a dispersive atomic medium, where we examine the possibilities for quantum noise signals traveling at subluminal and superluminal velocities. The interaction of squeezed light with resonant atomic vapors finds various potential applications in both quantum measurements and continuous variable quantum memories.

In this dissertation, we use lattice quantum chromodynamics to explore the radiative transitions of πK to K, to calculate the radiative width of the resonant K*(892) which appears in the P-wave πK → γK transition amplitude. The matrix elements are extracted from three-point functions calculated in a finite-volume discretized lattice with a pion mass of 284 MeV. The finite-volume amplitudes, which are constrained over a large number of πK energy points and four-momentum transfers, are mapped to the infinite volume transition amplitude by using the Lellouch-Lüscher formalism. The radiative width is determined to be 35(8) keV by analytically continuing the amplitude into the complex energy plane and calculating the residue at the K* pole.

<p>The subject of this work is the theoretical analysis of the mean-field and many-body properties of an impurity in a Bose-Einstein condensate in a double well potential. By investigating the stationary mean-field properties we show that a critical value of the boson-impurity interaction energy, W_c, corresponds to a pitchfork bifurcation in the number difference variable in the mean-field theory. Comparing W_c to the value of W where the many-body ground state wave function begins to split shows a direct correlation signaling a connection between the many-body and mean-field theories. Investigation of the mean-field dynamics shows that chaos emerges for W > W_c in the vicinity of an unstable equilibrium point generated by the pitchfork bifurcation. An entropy is defined to quantify the chaos and compared to the entanglement entropy between the BEC and the impurity. The mean-field entropy shows a large gradient at W_c whereas the entanglement entropy shows no apparent features around the same value of W. An increase in correlations between nearest neighbour many-body eigenvalues is seen as W is increased providing evidence for ``quantum chaos''.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

This dissertation documents a systematic study consisting of experimental investigations and theoretical analyses of intense ultraviolet sources in VUV and near-UV. Some engineering issues regarding two prototypes of electrodeless lamps using rf and microwave are discussed.;Various excimers that produce intense UV light are investigated, including: (1) A benchmark Xe2 excimer which has been proven to be very efficient in our novel rf capacitively coupled discharge lamp; (2) A rarely studied excimer, KrI, which suffers from predissociation and was reported to be very weak or invisible by most of other studies; (3) XeI excimer whose emission dominates around 253 nm and is promising as a mercury-free lamp for antibacterial applications. In the above studies, discharge temperatures are estimated from the emission band width. An elaborate kinetic model is developed for KrI to account for the KrI* and I2* intensities as a function of pressure. It was found that Kr2* plays the rule for energy transfer instead of Kr* in the pressure of interest. The electromagnetic wave interaction with charge particles is studied in our 2D and 3D EM-PIC simulations for both the rf and microwave lamps. Important plasma parameters, such as the electron density and temperature are obtained for various pressures. The electron energy distribution function that is important to account for excimer excitation is obtained.;We also performed a high-level ab initio calculation in Gaussian to produce the ground state potential curve for KrI, which agrees with previous scattering experiments and is necessary for predicting spectral emissions. as a systematic study to account for the KrI emission spectra at high pressure, we use a semiclassical model to account for emissions between a bound excited state and an unbound ground state. An explicit expression is obtained to represent the observed spectral intensity. Important molecular constants are obtained for KrI and compared with previous results.