Changes

The pupose of this page is to describe the work being done in the construction of a tabletop Michelson Interferometer.  The purpose of this device in the scope of the project is two fold.  First, the interferometer can be used to analyze the vibrational characteristics of a diamond wafer suspended from a wire frame.  Second, the interferometer can be used to study the surface profile of a diamond wafer, allowing us to see the effects that different cutting and mounting techniques have on the final product.  The main work does this semester has been on the vibrational aspects of the diamond mounting.

 

All atoms are made up of protons and neutrons, which are in turn comprised of quarks.  The particles “gluing” the quarks together are known as gluons.  The interaction of quarks and gluons is still not entirely understood, specifically how they are confined in the nucleus such that lone quarks are never seen.  The nuclear physics group at the University of Connecticut is part of the GlueX Experiment, which hopes to probe directly the gluon bond and understand its mechanical properties.  The probe used by GlueX is a high energy (small wavelength), polarized photon (particle of light) generated by a technique known as coherent bremsstrahlung .  This technique involves radiation of photons as a high energy electron beam passes through a carefully oriented diamond wafer. Because of the potential for contamination, it is necessary to suspend the diamond wafer rather than mount on a ridged mount.  The diamond is currently suspended on  thin tungsten wires.  Proper orientation ensures a high degree of polarization, which requires stable mounting of the diamond.  The goal of my research is to investigate the mechanical properties of the mount and eliminate the possibility of vibration of the crystal.

 

The pupose of this page is to describe the work being done on the development of a system to analyze these vibrations.  Two different techniques will be used to determine the amplitude and frequency of these vibrations.  First, a direct imaging technique will be used.  A Michelson interferometer will also be constructed, and will be used in not only the vibrational research, but also in the analysis of the diamond surface structure.

== Construction ==  

== Construction ==  

[[Image:Screenshot.png|center|Matlab code used for image analysis]]

[[Image:Screenshot.png|center|Matlab code used for image analysis]]

 

The first line imports the image, in this case IMAG0001.jpg, converts it to a matrix, and separates the green channel.  Next, this matrix is imaged in false color in terms of intensity from blue(low) to red(hgh).  

The first line imports the image, in this case IMAG0001.jpg, converts it to a matrix, and separates the green channel.  Next, this matrix is imaged in false color in terms of intensity from blue(low) to red(hgh).  

The last line is the actual search function. The search functions by finding the location with the smallest difference between the intensity(a(m,n)) and the fit function we apply to image.  We use a gaussian distribution with user defined parameters as our fit.  The code for this function is:

The last line is the actual search function. The search functions by finding the location with the smallest difference between the intensity(a(m,n)) and the fit function we apply to image.  We use a gaussian distribution with user defined parameters as our fit.  The code for this function is:

    

    

[[Image:Screenshot2.png|center|Matlab code used for image analysis]]

[[Image:Screenshot2.png|left|600px]]

The parameters p(1) to p(6) are, in numerical order, (1) the amplitude of the function, (2) x location, (3)sigma x, (4) y location, (5) sigma y, and (6) an offset applied to eliminate background noise.  The function takes user inputs as an initial guess, then loops the search process to find more accurate values for the parameters.  Arbitrary values are chosen for p(1), p(3), p(5) and p(6) to begin, and are then readjusted based on the first output parameters.  Typically, the closer these fit parameters are to the true parameters, the better the function is at defining p(2) an p(4).

The parameters p(1) to p(6) are, in numerical order, (1) the amplitude of the function, (2) x location, (3)sigma x, (4) y location, (5) sigma y, and (6) an offset applied to eliminate background noise.  The function takes user inputs as an initial guess, then loops the search process to find more accurate values for the parameters.  Arbitrary values are chosen for p(1), p(3), p(5) and p(6) to begin, and are then readjusted based on the first output parameters.  Typically, the closer these fit parameters are to the true parameters, the better the function is at defining p(2) an p(4).