In the summer of 2009, I attended a Photonic Research Program at the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers at City College of New York for five weeks, under the guidance of Dr. Alfano, distinguished professor. PhD Giovanni Millione mentored me on the theory of light, polarization, and laser beam modes. We experimented on beam propagation through different types of fiber optic waveguides, and on the generation of Cylindrical Vector Beams, optical vortex beams with annular polarizations and phase structures. These beam structures are also called singularities. They are not simply zones of null intensity, but rather cancellations of forces which have unique properties that determine the nature of light.
I continued research at the college throughout senior year of high school and into the summer as a part of the army's High School Apprenticeship Program. Here I continued work on the transformation of beams with Topological Charge. Dual-slit diffraction patterns can be used to analyze the Topological charge. To determine their superpositions we used birefringent phase retarders and lenses to induce conversions based on phase and polarization Jones matrix propagation. The beams were mapped using Stokes Polarimetry.
Here as a freshman at Stony Brook at the Later Teaching Center, I aim to learn more about the unique properties of light by studying the cancellation and restoration of forces in diffraction and singularities.
Published Abstracts:
G. Milione, J. Secor, G. Michel, S. Evans, and R. R. Alfano. Raman Optical Activity by Light with Spin and Orbital
Angular Momentum. Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers, Physics Department, the City College of the City
University of New York. SPIE Photonics West 2011: Complex Light and Optical Forces V.
G. Milione, S. Evans, and R. R. Alfano. Hybrid Vector Beam Generation. Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and
Lasers, Physics Department, the City College of the City University of New York. SPIE Photonics West 2011: Complex Light
and Optical Forces V.
Awards:
- 2010 New York City Science and Engineering Fair: Finalist, Second Place
in Physics
- Wilbur Pritchard Scholarship for Humanities and Physics
- Dr. Narciso Garcia Award for Excellence in Physics