Physics, Astronomy and Geophysics Labs

Several impressive research laboratories are housed in Connecticut College's department of Physics, Astronomy and Geophysics. You can work with faculty members on exciting research projects. Our students often publish as coauthors.

Much of our research equipment is designed and fabricated right here at the College, giving you unique and boundless opportunities to design, construct and test different systems.

• The Laser laboratory, a state-of-the-art facility, utilizes tunable diode lasers to conduct spectroscopic research on molecules of atmospheric interest, both terrestrially and in atmospheres of the outer planets. Supported by several NASA-sponsored programs, recent work in this lab has involved the development of absorption cells that may be cooled to temperatures as low as 6 Kelvin to simulate cold atmospheres. Our students are involved in recording data at collaborating laboratories, including Kitt Peak and the University of Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris, France, with opportunities to participate in research projects at both facilities.

• The Daghlian Accelerator Laboratory, which houses a 1-million volt positive ion accelerator, Pelletron-designed and built by National Electrostatics Corporation. The beams from the accelerator are used in two different research projects:
  (1) observing excitations arising during ion-molecule collisions. We look at the resulting photon emission from the collision in the wavelength range from 200nm to 800nm.  The work has application in the areas of atmospheric physics, comets, and planetary physics. 
  (2) utilizing PIXE (proton-induced x-ray emission), a well-known technique for material analysis that has been used for archaeology and environmental studies research.

• The 20 inch Ritchey-Cretien Cassegrain telescope in the Olin Observatory, equipped with a modern CCD camera, on which students conduct differential photometry projects on various celestial objects ranging from Active Galactic Nuclei to comets and asteroids.

• The state's largest recirculating flume used to replicate flow in natural rivers. This system circulates more than 10 gallons a second to produce patterns of erosion and deposition, and turbulence can be measured with an acoustic Doppler velocimeter.

Last Modified: Friday, January 25, 2008 15:58