Nuffield Placement 14 - Dyson Physics

Supervisor: Dr Richard Myers, Prof John Girkin, and Dr Nazim Bharmal
Organisation: Durham University / Dyson
Successful Applicant: Jack Griffiths
School: Egglescliffe School

Research Area: Physics / Optics
Length of Project: 6 weeks

Project Outline:

To investigate the applications of "air curtains" (as found above supermarket freezers or above doors in shops or in hand driers in toilets) to reduce the effects of turbulence in free-space optics experiments. In free-space experiments, even a warm hand can disturb the air and thus the measurements, meaning time must be spent isolating the experiment. Can this problem be solved with an air curtain? Supported by Dyson, using one of their desktop fans.

Start Date: 16 July 2012

Requirements: Comfortable in a darkened (not pitch black) laboratory environment; working with sensitive experimental equipment; doing data analysis using contemporary software (e.g. Excel, Word).

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