Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy Graduate Theses
Recent Submissions
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End-to-End Quality Assurance of Complex Radiation Therapy Treatments
Radiation treatments have become increasingly complex, making quality assurance (QA) of radiation therapy deliveries of vital importance. In order to measure complex dose deliveries, it is crucial to have the proper ... -
Electron Recoils In the PICO Direct Dark Matter Detection Experiment
The PICO-40L bubble chamber for direct dark matter detection is finishing the commissioning phase at SNOLAB. The detector will operate for 1 live year before being replaced by the next-generation detector, PICO-500. The ... -
Testing Photometric and Kinematic Algorithms to predict Next-Generation Telescope Survey Statistics
Reconciling the velocity function of dark matter halos in collisionless simulations with those derived observationally requires understanding how galaxies are embedded in their dark matter halos. Widefield neutral atomic ... -
Nature or Nurture? Collisionless Evolution of Galactic Disc-Halo Systems
In this thesis, we develop and apply a novel algorithm to understand the evolution of stellar discs in ΛCDM cosmological haloes. Three main scientific areas are addressed: the effects of evolving stellar discs on their ... -
Phase Space Structure of Disequilibrium in the Milky Way
Following Gaia Data Release 2, observations of spiral structure in the vertical phase space of the Milky Way have been made. In this thesis we set out to explain these structures, using a combination of analytic modeling, ... -
The PICO Dark Matter Search: Reflections and Projections
Dark matter remains one of the most intriguing mysteries of modern physics, and has sparked numerous experimental efforts to uncover its particle nature. Direct detection experiments using low threshold detectors in clean, ... -
On an Emerging Paradigm of Tepid Stars: Assessing the Magnetic Desert and the Magnetic Origin of Surprisingly Common Star Spots
The past decade has seen several significant shifts in the field of stellar magnetism, particularly on the observational front. A new generation of dramatically more efficient, high-resolution spectropolarimetric instruments ... -
Ultrafast Dynamics in Single Layer Molybdenum Disulfide
Molybdenum disulfide, a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD), has a direct band gap of 1.89 eV when thinned down to a single molecular layer. Exciton recombination pathways and lifetimes have been previously studied, but ... -
The Dynamics of Quantum States of Light in Lossy Coupled-Cavity Systems
Nonclassical states of light possess unique properties such as squeezing, antibunching, and entanglement, which have led to various interesting applications in quantum computing, quantum teleportation, and quantum ... -
Phononic Crystal Surface Structures on Gallium Arsenide
A series of computational studies of surface phononic crystals on cubic gallium arsenide are explored to elucidate the behaviour of surface acoustic waves in such systems. The enhanced understanding of surface acoustic ... -
Angular Resolution and Directionality in SNO+
Solar neutrinos are an irreducible background for the SNO+ double beta decay experiment. Neutrino interactions in the SNO+ detector produce directional Cherenkov light which, if separated from the dominant scintillation ... -
Exploiting ultrafast optical pulses: probing excitonic properties of 2D materials and utilizing the Kerr effect for all-optical switching
Ultrafast optics technology involves the development and application of femtosecond optical pulses. The work presented in this thesis consists of two research objectives which exploit these aspects of ultrafast optics ... -
Monitoring Laser Material Processing by Simultaneous Inline Coherent Imaging and Integrating Sphere Radiometry
Understanding the underlying physics of laser welding and metal additive manufacturing (AM) is crucial to the advancement of laser-based manufacturing. One aspect that especially requires careful attention and control is ... -
The role of surface fossil magnetic fields in massive star evolution
Models describing the evolution of massive stars have advanced significantly due to understanding and including key physical phenomena in the calculations, such as mass loss and rotation. As stellar magnetometry has ... -
Atmospheric Dependence of Fractoluminescence and Phononic Emissions in Inorganic Scintillator Fractures
Background signals in particle detectors can originate from several categories of sources, including radioactivity found in the detector or its housing and cosmic radiations. High energy physics relies heavily on the use ... -
Nonlinear Response of Monolayer Graphene to THz Frequency Radiation
Graphene, as a zero-bandgap two-dimensional semiconductor with a linear electron band dispersion near the Dirac points, has potential to exhibit very interesting nonlinear optical properties. In particular, third harmonic ... -
Theory and Modelling of Pulse-Driven Quantum Dots in Nanophotonic Structures
Quantum dots (QDs) integrated in nanophotonic environments provide an excellent platform for quantum information technologies and engineerable light-matter interactions. One application is a solid-state single photon source ... -
Computing Rovibrational Spectra of Small Polyatomic Molecules with Variational and Collocation Methods
It is well-known that some deuterated isotopologues of interstellar molecules achieve a significantly higher deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio than the natural elemental abundance. CH3+ and its deuterated isotopologues are thought ... -
Fabrication, Photoluminescence, and Electrical Measurements of Molybdenum DiSulphide Films and Heterostructures
Transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) exhibit unique optical and electronic properties that make them highly appealing to the scientific community. Like graphene, they have strong in-plane bonds allowing for easy fabrication ... -
Evolving Galactic Dynamos and Fits to the Reversing Rotation Measures in Edge-On Galaxies
Rotation measure (RM) synthesis maps of NGC 4631 by Mora-Partiarroyo et al. (2018) show remarkable sign reversals on kpc scales as the distance from the minor axis increases in the northern halo of the galaxy. RM maps for ...
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