2020 Visiting Faculty Program (VFP) Program Participants & Projects

Visiting Faculty: Dr. Wesley Sims

Institution: Morehouse College

SLAC Co-investigator: Dr. Sergio Carbajo

Project Title: Next generation of attosecond cross correlators

Project Description: We propose the development of a novel time-tool to determine x-ray arrival times with a significantly enhanced performance compared to that of any technique currently demonstrated or in use at any Free Electron Laser.  Our scheme is compact, drift- and background-free, operates well above MHz repetition rates with one order of magnitude better responsivity than the current time-stamping tools, and has the potential for attosecond temporal precision.  This research builds on in-house knowledge of spectrally- and spatially-encoded time-tool techniques to bring a critical technological solution to LCLS-II/HE and any attosecond beam (e.g., electrons, photons) sources. In particular, it leverages recent advances of balanced optical cross-correlation (BOC) detection to conceptually redefine FEL time-tools towards a compact, all-fiber based, attosecond-precision measuring tools.

Visiting Faculty: Dr. Eddie Red

Institution: Morehouse College

SLAC Co-investigator: Dr. Emilio Nanni

Project Title: Investigating the Structural Integrity and Emission Properties of Metal-Oxide Nanotube Arrays

Project Description:  Within this project, we propose a series of experiments to investigate the properties of metal-oxide nanotube arrays.  More specifically, highly ordered pure- and doped- TiO2 and ZrO2 nanotube arrays are grown using a chemical deposition process based on a set of previously, well-established parameters that highly influence order and uniformity in the nanotube array structure.  Each nanotube array has a center cavity whose depth is dependent on the growth parameters.  Also, small cavities can exist on the surface of the nanotube.   We use an X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and potentially a cryogenic transmission electron microscope (Cryo-EM) to establish a structural and topographical baseline analysis. A variety of operational conditions allow for the characterization of photon and photo-induced electron emission.