Main Page

MediaWiki has been installed. Welcome to the main page for the PC5214 graduate module AY2122, Sem2. Here, we leave project descriptions, literature references, and other collateral information. You will need to create an account in class to obtain write access.

Actual lecture locations will be placed here until we have reached a stable state. If you are interested and have not been able to register, please send me an email (if you have not done so already) to phyck@nus.edu.sg.

For the session on 14 Jan and some following sessions, we were given LT29.

Cheers, Christian

This page is currently set up.

Projects

Please leave a a link to your project page (or pages) here, and leave a short description what this is about.

Project 1 (example)

Keep a very brief description of a project or even a suggestion here, and perhaps the names of the team members, or who to contact if there is interest to join.

Confocal Microscopy

Team Members: Wang Tingyu, Xue Rui, Yang Hengxing

A Confocal Microscopy or Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) uses pinhole to block out all out of focus light to enhance optical resolution, very different from traditional wide-field fluorescence microscopes. To offset the block of out of focus lights, the light intensity is detected by a photomultiplier tube or avalanche photodiode, which transforms the light signal into an electrical one. We will try to build a Setup like this to enhance optical resolution and maybe get profile information about the sample.

Measure index of refraction

Members: Joel Auccapuclla, Xiaoyu Nie, Haotian Song, Nakarin Jayjong. Use an interferometer to obtain the index of refraction of different materials, for instance air.

Compressed air energy storage

Proposed By: John Khoo

A compressed air energy storage (CAES) system stores energy by compressing air, retrieving it later on by expanding the compressed air and using the expansion to spin a generator. It is more sustainable than a battery due to its durability and low-tech design that enhance repairability. However, there are significant thermal losses during the expansion cycle that significantly decreases the efficiency of the system. Two divergent approaches are possible for overcoming this limitation that are suitable for micro-CAES deployments resilient to supply chain issues: isothermal operation, or harnessing of the generated heating and cooling. This project aims to construct a micro-CAES system following each approach, and investigate the thermodynamics involved in each type of system.

Continuous-variable QKD with Gaussian modulation and coherent states

Proposed By: John Khoo

While the first protocols for quantum key distribution (QKD) involved discrete variables (DV) in finite, small dimensions, QKD can also be done using continuous variables (CV) in infinite dimensions, i.e. the state of an electromagnetic field. Using Gaussian modulation and coherent states makes the QKD system relatively easy to implement and analyse, although getting positive key rates is a different matter. We will attempt to build a CV-QKD setup from scratch for this project, including the implementation of the QKD protocol itself in software. We want to pay particular attention to the design of the amplifier for the homodyne detector, for which there are stringent requirements and difficult tradeoffs to make.

Laser Microphone

Team Members: Nicholas Chong Jia Le, Marcus Low Zuo Wu

A laser spot illuminating a vibrating surface should move along with it, and tracking the motion of the spot should theoretically allow us to retrieve some of the information regarding the vibrations of the surface. If a loud enough sound causes the surface to vibrate, this should theoretically be enough for the transmission of audio information through visual means. We have a few different methods through which we will attempt to realise this.

Plasma emission spectroscopy

Proposed By: Park Kun Hee

Pulsed plasma in partial vacuum is characterised, by analysing line intensity ratios to determine its temperature and density.

Plasma emission spectroscopy

Proposed By: Yeo Zhen Yuan

The project is to build a Single Photon Counting Module (SPCM) from scratch and compare its efficiency with commercial counterparts like this device. It works based on the photoelectric effect to turn incident photon into photoelectron. This photoelectron is then accelerated in an electric field to produce cascading electrons and this "electron avalanche" is detected as a spike in the current. This project may require a semiconductor fabrication facility, or we may have to make do with available photodiodes. Analogue signals will need to be processed via custom electronics and ultimately provide a digital readout. Current commercial detectors boast 50% Photon Detector Efficiency (PDE) at room temperature and that will be our goal. They typically cost $2000-$5000 which seems over-priced and ready for disruption. Liquid nitrogen temperatures may be needed to see how large a PDE we can get. What is SPCM good for? Copied from the datasheet/brochure: LIDAR, Quantum Cryptography, Photon correlation spectroscopy, Astronomical observation, Optical range finding, Adaptive optics, Ultra-sensitive fluorescence, Particle sizing, Microscopy. So maybe this would become a toy/tool for next year's students.

Resources

Recorded sessions

Some of the sessions will be recorded and uploaded to youtube. Find a description on the Recorded sessions page.

Devices and material

Apart form all the stuff in the teaching lab, we have a few resources you may want to consider for your project

• ...

Books:

• P.R. Bevington, D.K. Robinson: Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences, 3rd edition. McGrawHill, ISBN0-07-119926-8. A very good book containing all the questions you never allowed yourself to ask about error treatment, statistics, fitting of data to models etc.
• Horrowitz/Hill: The Art of Electronics
• C.H. Moore, C.C. Davis, M.A. Coplan: Building Scientific Apparatus. 2nd or higher edition. Perseus Books, ISBN0-201-13189-7. A very comprehensive book about many dirty details in experimental physics, and ways to get simple problems solved. Appears a bit dated, but is a good start for many experimental projects up to this day!
• Christopher C. Davis: Laser and Electro-optics. Useful as a general introduction to many contemporary aspects you come across when working with lasers, with a reasonable introduction of the theory. Very practical for optics.

Software: Some of the more common data processing tools used in experimental physics:

• Gnuplot: A free and very mature data display tool that works on just about any platform used that produces excellent publication-grade eps and pdf figures. Can be also used in scripts. Open source and completely free.
• Various Python extensions. Python is a very powerful free programming language that runs on just about any computer platform. It is open source and completely free.
• Matlab: Very common, good toolset also for formal mathematics, good graphics. Expensive. We may have a site license, but I am not sure how painful it is for us to get a license for this course. Ask me if interested.
• Mathematica: More common among theroetical physicists, very good in formal maths, now with better numerics. Graphs are ok but can be a pain to make looking good. As with Matlab, we do have a campus license but an increasingly painful licensing ritual. Ask me if interested or follow the instruction to install the software in your desktop.
• Origin: Very widespread data processing software with a complete graphical user interface, integrates well into a Windows environment. Most likely available in your research labs, not sure if NUS has a site license.
• Labview: Many of you may have seen this in your labs, but I am not too familiar with it, and chances are it is too resource-hungry to run on the machines we have there. It keeps its promise of a fast learning curve if you want to do simple things but it can get a REAL pain if you want to do subtle things, or want to do things fast, or want to debug code. Expensive and resource-hungry, but comes with good integration of also expensive hardware. May not be worth it if you know any programming language.
• Circuit Lab: a convenient software to design and simulate electrical circuits directly at your browser. I think Flash is required. It works well in Chrome.

Acronym database

This is an attempt to clarify the countless acronyms we use in our sub-communities (follow headline link)

Gnuplot tricks

Follow the headline link for some of the random questions that came up with gnuplot.

Previous PC5214 wikis

• AY2018/19 Sem2
• AY2014/15 Sem1
• AY2013/14 Sem1
• AY2012/13 Sem1
• AY2011/12 Sem1
• AY2010/11 Sem1

Some wiki reference materials

Consult the User's Guide for information on using the wiki software. Other sources:

• MediaWiki FAQ
• Writing mathematical expressions
• Uploading images