Student-Faculty Programs 2020 Student Abstract Book STUDENT-FACULTY PROGRAMS 2020 Abstract Book This document contains the abstracts of the research projects conducted by students in all programs coordinated by Caltech’s Student-Faculty Programs Office for the summer of 2020. Table of Contents Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) PDF Page 3 WAVE Fellows Program PDF Page 84 Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) PDF Page 92 Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) PDF Page 95 SURF Abstracts Simulating and Analyzing the Hyperfine Structure of Erbium-167 Doped Yttrium Orthosilicate With Spectral Hole Burning Spectroscopy Sébastien Abadi Mentors: Andrei Faraon and Mi Lei 167 3+ 167 3+ Er -doped yttrium orthosilicate ( Er :Y2SiO5) is a promising system for the implementation of long-lived multimode quantum memory at telecommunication wavelengths, which is important for the realization of long-distance quantum communication. Optical quantum memory has already been implemented in this system. The next goal is to implement spin-wave quantum memory using hyperfine spin states, which will improve storage times and enable on-demand recall. It is thus of interest to determine the hyperfine energy splittings of 167 3+ Er :Y2SiO5 at the magnetic field used by the Faraon group, which can be accomplished via spectral hole burning 167 3+ (SHB) spectroscopy. To that effect, I created simulations to reproduce SHB spectra of Er :Y2SiO5 under a stronger magnetic field where the hyperfine structure is known. With those simulations, I improved my understanding of how the burned hole position and linewidth affects which energy splittings can be inferred. I then made predictions about what sets of SHB experiments are sufficient to determine the hyperfine structure of interest. Fitting procedures were also developed so that once that structure is known, relative oscillator strengths of the optical transitions can be determined. Future work will consist of acquiring SHB spectra and determining the hyperfine structure from those spectra. Developing Digital Infrastructure for Synthesizing and Probing Quantum Materials Adam Abbas Mentor: Joseph Falson As a new group at Caltech, the Falson Lab has been in the process of being constructed for the past year. To complement the soon to be completed physical lab, a digital infrastructure was developed to provide a seamless integration of lab equipment, computing devices, and all other aspects of the lab’s network. The Raspberry Pi computing device was chosen as an optimal way to communicate with individual pieces of equipment, due to both its space and processor efficiency. A network of these was designed, connecting each piece of critical equipment to a Pi, allowing for easy communication and programming for equipment. A network-based digital backup solution was also identified to connect to this network and guarantee the safety of our data from device failures or ransomware. Along with planning the network’s infrastructure, it was important to ensure that it would be possible to control the physical lab equipment. This involved developing combined systems of software and hardware based on the requirements of each instrument. Software was developed to monitor and display the outputs of lab devices, such as the cryostat temperature monitors, over time. Circuits were designed to be able to successfully communicate with a vacuum Pirani gauge, as well as to control stepper motors for a measurement apparatus while balancing power constraints for both input and output. Finally, communication protocols were designed to be able to control the equipment for the superconducting magnet that will be used in the cryostat. All of the work done will be able to be implemented shortly after the opening of the lab and will allow for a strong beginning to its operations. Imaging Simulated Exoplanets With the James Webb Space Telescope Jea Adams Mentors: Dimitri Mawet and Jason Wang The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2021 will revolutionize direct imaging by providing the first characterizations of exoplanets within 3-13 microns. Our recent ability to empirically model and remove starlight from imaged extrasolar systems with post-processing algorithms like pyKLIP has proven vital to the discovery of exoplanets with high contrast imaging using current telescopes. However, such software systems are not presently prepared to handle the incoming JWST data. We aim to develop and refine new and existing data analysis tools that use pyKLIP in order to have a functional data reduction pipeline prior to the telescope’s launch. Using simulated data of an extrasolar system through the telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCAM), we confirmed pyKLIP’s ability to fit and subtract the stellar PSF from an image and reveal exoplanets hidden underneath. We computed NIRCAM’s sensitivity to exoplanets, and upgraded pyKLIP to correct for coronagraphic usage when determining the astrometry and photometry of exoplanets. As part of JWST’s Early Release Programs, we share their goal of demonstrating JWST’s capabilities and swiftly disseminating them to the community. We therefore documented our analysis steps as public notebooks to help astronomers undertake the most suitable observing programs during JWST’s limited lifetime. Developing a Simulator for Complex Quadrotor Maneuvers Kasey Adams Mentors: Soon-Jo Chung and Michael O’Connell In the field of autonomous flight, simulations allow for testing to be done before expensive hardware needs to be risked in testing complex maneuvers. Thus, the development of a realistic simulator is imperative for testing the algorithmically generated, complex maneuvers that model systems being researched in the Center for Autonomous SURF Abstracts Systems and Technology (CAST) lab. We developed a 6 degree of freedom quadrotor simulator in python to test these maneuvers and algorithms. The simulator incorporates a Rapidly-Exploring Random Tree (RRT) path planning algorithm, which will plan agile maneuvers between two states following environmental and dynamic constraints. The simulator emulates real hardware by having motor delay and by running the controller and simulator at different frequencies. The simulator will allow the simulation and testing of more complex algorithms and maneuvers than were able to be simulated and tested before, and in the future, it will allow for a framework of developing the simulator to support multiple bodies and swarms. (1) Evaluating Hindsight During the COVID-19 Pandemic; (2) EEG Correlates of Pre-Clinical Alzheimer’s Disease Sara Adams Mentors: Shinsuke Shimojo and Daw-An Wu (1) Hindsight bias is the tendency to recall events as having been more predictable than they actually were. This topic is particularly relevant for COVID-19: the actions we take, both individually and as a society, are shaped by our predictions of what is to come. In later evaluating our response, it is important to understand the extent to which our recollection is biased. Thus, we are conducting a global survey of 500+ individuals in order to gauge their opinions at particular points in the pandemic and how they recall those opinions later on. Preliminary results have confirmed that individuals do exhibit hindsight bias regarding the pandemic, and ongoing surveys are evaluating contributing factors to this bias. (2) In addition to the COVID-19 project, we have been evaluating how EEG may be able to be used in order to aid the development of non-invasive early diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease. Pilot experiments involving EEG alongside a Simon task in individuals who have biomarkers suggesting pre-clinical Alzheimer’s (CSF A42/tau ratio > 2.7132) have demonstrated that participants with these markers may have a difference in readiness potential compared to a control group. Simulating Scalar Vortex Fiber Nulling for Telescopes With Segmented Primary Mirrors Maximilian Adang Mentors: Dimitri Mawet and Daniel Echeverri Direct imaging and characterizing exoplanets at close angular separations from their host stars is a challenge in modern astronomy that high contrast imaging is trying to solve. Vortex Fiber Nulling (VFN) is an interferometric technique combining the phase pattern of a vortex coronagraph mask with the light coupling properties of a single mode fiber, nulling the starlight in the image to improve contrast between the exoplanet and the star at small separations. A pupil-plane vector vortex-based version of VFN has been demonstrated in a laboratory at Caltech. This implementation works well but is sensitive to polarization effects in the light that reduce the achievable null. I am exploring the viability of scalar VFN as an alternative for telescopes with segmented primary mirrors by imprinting the phase pattern across the segments of the primary instead of using a vector vortex mask. This is being done by simulating the phase pattern for the Keck telescope and optimizing the ratio of planet light to starlight coupling into the single mode fiber and the system’s integration time. This technique produces a null unlimited by polarization effects and enables immediate on-sky testing of VFN with telescopes such as Keck, and eventually TMT and GMT. Follow-Up of Supernovae Using the Liverpool Telescope Yasmin Afshar Mentor: Daniel Perley The Bright Transient Survey, a project within the Zwicky Transient Facility, aims to classify every bright transient object in the night sky. Reliable classification of supernovae and investigation of properties of their host galaxies