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HOW TO USE THIS SITE
HOW TO USE THIS SITE
Physics can be hard to understand, and every physicist knows that from experience! To help guide you, dear reader (or listener), this site offers a comprehensive list of pages necessary to understand the abstract on this page as well as the content of the in-person presentation. Not every technical term will be defined, and not every equation will be derived from scratch, but the content contained herein is still exhaustive - covering the basics of spectroscopy all the way through the structure and logic of the title project. Here's a quick overview of the pages you can visit:
HOME: You are here! This contains a user guide, the project abstract, a summary of skills acquired, and brief bios for Caden and Dr. Bayram.
SPECTROSCOPY BASICS: This project lies within the vast field of spectroscopy, the science of using light to identify, analyze, and make predictions about atomic-scale matter. This page will give you a quick run-down of spectroscopy, starting from its historical origins and discussing key concepts.
WHAT'S A POTENTIAL CURVE?: The motivation of this project is to compute potential curves for molecules, which deserves some explaining of its own. This will go over the critical importance of knowing the potential energy in quantum physics.
THE RKR METHOD: The project utilizes the widely-applied RKR Method to compute molecular potential curves. This page explains the logic thereof.
THE ALGORITHM: The unique aspects of this project lie in the software implementation of the RKR method. This page is the "meat and potatoes" - containing detailed programmatic logic and justification for the methodologies used.
A molecular potential energy curve for hydrogen gas: the y-axis shows the energy, and the x-axis shows the distance between the atoms. We call the distance where the energy is the lowest (that is, the atoms are most tightly bonded) the equilibrium internuclear distance.
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT
To model any quantum system, calculating the correct potential energy function is critically important for predicting its behavior. This is especially true in the realm of molecular spectroscopy, where the potential energy function for a given molecule allows for the extrapolation of myriad useful results: the strengths of its allowed fluorescence wavelengths, the rate at which its excited states decay, and the set of its possible quantum wavefunctions, to name a few. We present here a program for the numerical calculation of molecular potential energies (neglecting centrifugal effects due to rotation) for homonuclear or heteronuclear molecules. Requiring only the first- and second-order spectroscopic constants for the desired molecule (which are relatively easy to collect in a lab setting) as inputs, the program applies the numerical Rydberg-Klein-Rees method to generate a first estimate for the molecular potential energy. Subsequently, various smoothing and correction algorithms are applied to increase the precision of the result. The current version of the program consistently generates potential energy curves with great accuracy (<0.01% error from accepted values), and with further refinement may be released for widespread application by experimental spectroscopists.
CAREER READINESS SKILLS GAINED
CAREER READINESS SKILLS GAINED
Technology: Gained fluency in MATLAB and familiarity with spectroscopic techniques.
Leadership: Took a self-directed role in the design and implementation of the final program.
Critical Thinking: Problem-solving was vital to building and debugging code, as well as in understanding critical existing research via thorough literature review.
Career & Self-Development: Maintained communication with Dr. Bayram and made adjustments based on feedback.
ABOUT US
ABOUT US
Dr. Burçin Bayram
Dr. Burçin Bayram
Dr. Bayram is a researcher in the field of laser spectroscopy and, broadly, atomic, molecular, and optical physics. She is passionate about student involvement and has developed several innovative teaching materials for the exploration of diatomic molecules in an undergraduate lab setting. Currently, Dr. Bayram's lab focuses on measuring the lifetime of highly-excited alkali metal dimers.
Caden McCollum
Caden McCollum
I'm a second-year physics and mathematics double-major from Fairfield, OH with separate projects under Drs. Bayram, Mirza, and Bali in the physics department. I'm very interested in research for quantum sensing and predictive modeling. Outside of the lab, I'm the president of the Alternative Spring Break student organization and a huge hobbyist - stormchasing, hiking, birding, and photograpy are my favorite pasttimes.
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