Research
"In physics, you don't have to go around making trouble for
yourself - nature does it for you" --Frank Wilczek
I am currently working with Professor Reyco Henning at the University of North Carolina. My research interests are in neutrino physics, specifically neutrinoless double-beta decay and direct searches for dark matter. I am currently working within the Majorana collaboration.
I am currently performing two types of nuclear physics measurements with neutrons relevant to backgrounds in dark matter experiments as the basis for my Ph.D. work. The first is to measure elastic scattering cross sections of neutrons from noble gases at Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory. The second is to measure inelastic scattering of neutrons from noble gases in search for specfic excited state decays. This work will be done using the GEANIE detector array at the LANSCE facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Some of my previous research efforts include low background measurements to be made at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility (KURF) of materials with low intrisic radioactivity. My main efforts were techniques for background reduction and detector characterization. I have also focused on clean sample preparation.
In the summer of 2007, I worked
at Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) at Duke University on a
project to measure the cross section for p-d breakup.
In the fall of 2006 and spring of 2007, I worked with Professor Kurt Fletcher (SUNY Geneseo) and Dr. Johan Frenje (MIT) on a project to prepare uniform deuterated polymer foils to be used as targets for Magnetic Recoil Spectrometer experiments at the OMEGA laser system located at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics. The goal of the experiment is to measure the neutron energy spectrum in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions.
Click here for poster.
In the summer of 2006, I worked with Dr. Kurt Fletcher (SUNY Geneseo) on a project to detect charged particles using Charge Injection Device (CID) cameras.
Papers and Talks
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