abstract: Several key, open questions in astrophysics can be tackled by searching for and mining large datasets for transient phenomena. The evolution of massive stars and compact objects can be studied over cosmic time by identifying supernovae (SNe) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in other galaxies and determining their redshifts. Modeling GRBs and their afterglows to probe the jets of GRBs can shed light on the emission mechanism, rate, and energetics of these events. In Chapter 1, I discuss the current state of astronomical transient study, including sources of interest, instrumentation, and data reduction techniques, with a focus on work in the infrared. In Chapter 2, I present original work published in the Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, testing InGaAs infrared detectors for astronomical use (Strausbaugh, Jackson, and Butler 2018); highlights of this work include observing the exoplanet transit of HD189773B, and detecting the nearby supernova SN2016adj with an InGaAs detector mounted on a small telescope at ASU. In Chapter 3, I discuss my work on GRB jets published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, highlighting the interesting case of GRB 160625B (Strausbaugh et al. 2019), where I interpret a late-time bump in the GRB afterglow lightcurve as evidence for a bright-edged jet. In Chapter 4, I present a look back at previous years of RATIR (Re-ionization And Transient Infra-Red Camera) data, with an emphasis on the efficiency of following up GRBs detected by the Fermi Space Telescope, before some final remarks and brief discussion of future work in Chapter 5. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Physics 2019

Orientador: Maria José Santos Pompeu Brasil / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Física "Gleb Wataghin" / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T05:37:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GonzalezBalanta_MiguelAngel_M.pdf: 3522641 bytes, checksum: 4f38baba120bb574a54a03d7c1ebc335 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Nesta dissertação investigamos os efeitos dos íons de Mn na dinâmica do spin de elétron em poços quânticos de InGaAs/GaAs. Os poços têm um gás de buracos gerado por dopagens em suas barreiras, sendo uma dopagem tipo delta de Mn numa das barreiras e uma dopagem tipo delta de C, na outra. A densidade de buracos foi determinada mediante medidas de transporte e são consistentes com as densidades obtidas das energias de Stokeshift. Utilizamos diversas técnicas ópticas, como a fotoluminescência no modo contínuo (PL-CW) e resolvida no tempo (PL-RT), a fotoluminescência de excitação (PLE-CW), e o efeito Hanle óptico, sempre usando luz circularmente polarizada para excitação e analisando a polarização circular da luz emitida. Comparamos os tempos de vida ( ? ) e de relaxação do spin ( ? s) dos elétrons obtidos através destas técnicas e discutimos as diferenças intrínsecas destes métodos e o significado físico dos parâmetros fornecidos por eles. Analisamos também o efeito da presença dos íons de Mn, que são íons magnéticos, sobre os tempos vida e de spin dos elétrons em uma série de amostras com diferentes quantidades de Mn incluindo a amostra de referencia sem Mn. Os resultados encontrados revelam um limite para a concentração de Mn, para a qual ambos, ? e ? s, apresentam uma queda abruta. Surpreendentemente, esta queda não afeita o grau de polarização CW, pois a razão ?/? s que determina este parâmetro permanece basicamente constante para todas as amostras / Abstract: We have studied the effect of Mn ions on the spin-relaxation of electrons in a InGaAs/GaAs quantum well (QW). The QW has a two-dimensional hole-gas generated by doping the barriers, whereas one of the barriers has a Mn-planar layer and the other one, a C planarlayer. The hole densities were determined by Shubnikov-de-Haas oscillations and are consistent with the Stokes-shift energies obtained by optical measurements. We have performed continuouswave photoluminescence measurements (CW-PL), excitation photoluminescence (CW-PLE), timeresolved (TR-PL), and Hanle effect with circularly polarized excitation and detection. We compare the lifetime ( ? ) and the spin relaxation time ( ? s) obtained using those techniques and we discuss the differences between the various techniques and the physical meaning of those parameters. We also analyze the effect of Mn ions on ? s and ? for the series of samples with different Mn concentrations, including a reference sample with no Mn doping. The results revealed a threshold of Mn concentration at which both, and ? s, show a strong and abrupt fall. Surprisingly, this fall does not affect the CW effective polarization degree, since the ratio s that determines this parameter remains basically constant for all samples / Mestrado / Física da Matéria Condensada / Mestre em Física