Alondra Galindo

I am a latina, fgli student. I am a physics major but i am so interested in mechanical engineering. I hadn't done research in physics before so during the summer was my first time. I thought it was very interesting but its not something i wanted to continue doing. I am currently doing research at an olin robotics lab and i think this lab better suits my interests.

I would tell students to ask their professors or faculty about research in their labs if its interesting to them. I would apply to wellesley's FYAP and SERP programs if they can. And for the summer there are so many REUs out there to apply to, I would say apply to as many as you can and see what happens.

Abstract: This experiment concerned the replication and extension of results from work done by Professor Robbie Berg in recent years. In order to make the experiment more accessible for undergraduate classwork we changed some elements, such as utilizing a laser with low enough power that eye protection is not necessary. Our experiment consisted of shining green laser light with a wavelength of 542 nm on diamonds with a nitrogen vacancy defect. These defects have quantum properties much like those of an atom in extreme temperatures, but in the diamonds we were able to see the energy quantization of the nitrogen defects at room temperature. The green laser excites the defects, they release a small amount of vibrational energy, and then finally return to their original energy level by emitting a red photon with a wavelength of about 633 nm. Through analysis of this fluorescence and application of an electromagnetic field using an antenna, we were able to see the quantum behavior of the nitrogen defects. These properties are crucial in technologies such as quantum computing and communication. The latter has many advantages over other modern means of communication, including increased security. As such, work with nitrogen defects in diamonds could potentially revolutionize the way we communicate.