Stony Brook University

Department of Physics & Astronomy

The Laser Teaching Center


 Mentors

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Harold Metcalf

Distinguished Teaching Professor

Prof. Harold Metcalf founded the Laser Teaching Center in 1998. He has done pioneering research in laser cooling and trapping, and has led the department's AMO (atomic, molecular and optical) physics group for many years.

John Noé

Executive Director, LTC

Dr. John Noé has directed the Laser Teaching Center since its inception. He joined the Department of Physics & Astronomy in 1974 as a postdoctoral associate in the Nuclear Structure Laboratory, and was associated with the NSL for over 20 years.

Marty Cohen

Visiting Scientist, Physics & Astronomy

Dr. Marty Cohen is a retired optical physicist with many years of experience at Bell Laboratories, Quantronix (a laser company) and elsewhere. He has been an active member of both the LTC and various optics research groups in the department since 2005.

Sam Goldwasser

"Laser Guru"

Dr. Sam Goldwasser is best known for Sam's Laser FAQ, a treasure-trove of practical laser information. He is a regular summer visitor and also mentors our students by email.

Dave Battin

Laser hobbyist and holographer

David Battin is an experienced local laser hobbyist and holographer, whose holograms have been displayed at the Northport Library and elsewhere. He has been an LTC mentor since summer 2011.



 2012 Students

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David Meltzer

Stony Brook University

David is a Stony Brook junior who is currently (spring 2012 semester) extending his 2011 REU project on diffraction of optical vortices. He also works in Prof. Schneble's BEC lab.

Marissa Romano

Stony Brook University

Marissa is a freshman physics major in the WISE program. She is our one WSE187 (Introduction to Research) student this semester.

Carrie Segal

Stony Brook University

Carrie ....

 2011 Students

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Yoonji Choe

Wellesley College

Yoonji was one of our NSF-REU Fellows for summer 2011. She lives on Long Island and attended Great Neck South High School. Her LTC project involved creating a nitrogen-pumped dye laser.

Stefan Evans

Stony Brook University

Stefan ..

Benjamin Hart

Stony Brook University

Benjamin is a first-year physics major in the Honors College. He hails from New Hampshire and is currently (Fall 2011) being introduced to optics research through the PHY287 course.

Bolun Liu

Mission High School, Fremont, California

Bolun is the first of our two Simons Fellows for Summer 2011. His project on evanescent waves in FTIR and ATR recently earned semi-finalist recognition in the Siemens Competition.

David Meltzer

Stony Brook University

David is a Stony Brook junio ...

Daugile Gabriele (Gaby) Savaneviciute

Riverhead High School

Gaby is our second 2011 Simons Fellow. She built on her interest in laser cooling by studying ways to shift the frequency of light by the Doppler effect.

Sharmishtha Saxena

Stony Brook University

Sharmishtha ...

Carrie Segal

Stony Brook University

Carrie ....

Robert Sokolowski

Stony Brook University

Robert, a junior-level physics major, has been involved with the LTC since Fall 2011.

Lauren Taylor

Juniata College

Lauren's interest in optics comes ....

Justin Zeth

RPI

Justin is a Long Island native who has just completed his first year at RPI.


 2010 Students

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Jacob Chamoun

Cornell University

Jacob is working primarily with Prof. Metcalf, but his home base is the LTC. He is currently investigating the transmission of polarized light in single-mode optical fibers. [currently at Stanford].

Ben Coe

Oneonta High School

Ben was one of our 2010 Simons Fellows. His project simulated a liquid mirror telescope. He is currently a freshman physics major and member of the Honors College at Stony Brook.

Stefan Evans

Stony Brook University

Stefan ..

Vincent Gregoric

Mount Union College

Vince has a keen interest in lasers and laser modes, and will be doing a project in this area.

Ewuin Guatemala

Stony Brook University

Ewuin ...

Heather Hill

Duke University

Heather ... She is currently a first-year graduate student of physics at Columbia University.

Pradyoth Kukkapalli

Wilmington Charter School

Pradyoth ... is now studying computer science at Cornell University.

Hannarae Annie Nam

Choate Rosemary Hall

Annie ... is currently a freshman physics major at MIT.

Sebastien Parmentier

Stony Brook University

Sebastien got his start in research through the LTC, but has since been working independently on a exciting topic in astronomical instrumention (the non-redundant aperture mask or NRM) with Anand Sivaramakrishnan.

Katya Sergan

Univ. California at Davis

Katya was our ...

This page was last revised 29 October 2011. Visit our Student Projects page to learn about participants prior to 2010.