Physics Department

 

with Jim, Kevin and Rob at Lake Lila in the Adirondacks

Ann Silversmith

email: asilvers@hamilton.edu

phone: (315)859-4704 fax: (315)859-4807

Education

Ph.D. in physics from the Australian National University, January 1986. Thesis title: "High Resolution Laser Spectroscopy of Trivalent Europium Centers in Crystals".

M.Sc. in physics from the University of Wisconsin, May 1982.

A.B. from Oberlin College, May 1978. Majored in physics. Graduation with high honors.

Experience

PROFESSOR (2002-, chair 2004-), ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR (1995-2002), ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (1989-95), Department of Physics Hamilton College.

Research in the field of laser spectrocopy of solids. Current project involves the synthesis and spectroscopic characterization of rare-earth based sol-gel glasses.

VISITING FELLOW (Jan.1998-May 1998), Laser Physics Center Research School of Physical Sciences, The Australian National University ,Canberra, A.C.T., 2601, Australia.

Research involving spectroscopy of rare earth doped sol-gel glass, holeburning and optically detected nuclear magnetic resonance of Europium doped fluoride crystals, and laser-induced upconversion in Er:KLiYF5.

VISITING SCIENTIST (Feb. 1986-May 1987) IBM Almaden Research Center 650 Harry Road San Jose, CA 95120-6099.

Research in the field of high resolution holeburning spectroscopy, and research and development of upconversion-pumped lasers.

GRADUATE STUDENT (Sept. 1982-Dec. 1985) Research School of Physical Sciences The Australian National University. Canberra, A.C.T., 2601, Australia.

GRADUATE STUDENT (Sept. 1979-May 1982) Department of Physics University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin 53706.

For more information and photos, follow this link.

Research In Laser Spectroscopy of Rare Earth Based Solids

When I arrived at Hamilton, I concentrated most of my effort on the spectroscopy of upconversion laser materials. I got into this field as a post-doc at IBM. I was a member of the Optical Storage group there that was working on the development of compact blue laser devices. An Upconversion Laser produces laser light at a higher frequency than the pump light - hence the name - and is one possible way of creating a blue laser using readily available infrared diode lasers as excitation sources. Our group at IBM built the first continuous upconversion laser and then developed several more lasers before I left in mid-87. Since then, the field has grown and many groups all over the world are working on upconversion.

Many students have done summer research and senior projects in my lab; some of our work has been published and/or presented at international conferences. Last summer I presented two posters at DPC (Dynamic processes Conference) in France with student co-authors Rachael Anderman ('01)David Shaye, Bryan Smith (both '02), and Lynwood Rumney (04). A few years ago I presented an invited paper at the International Conference on Luminescence (ICL) in Prague (August '96) which had two Hamilton students as co-authors: Ed Bielejec '96 and Ema Kisel '97. A number of years ago Brandon Collings, a research student in my lab during the 93-94 academic year, won a national award (The Apker award, given by the American Physical Society) for his project.

While at ICL '96 I heard a talk about sol-gel synthesis of Rare Earth doped glass and thought it sounded like fun - something that could be done at Hamilton. Since summer '97 I've been working with Karen Brewer in the chemistry department here and Dan Boye, in physics at Davidson College, on making glass and doing interesting spectroscopy on our own materials. We've had a grant from Research Corporation to support the project and have had many students make valuable contributions to the work. In the summer of 2003 Dan and I presented two posters of RE-based sol-gels at the Dynamic Processes Conference in Christchurch, NZ.The paper on chelation of rare earth ions was based on research carried out by Andrew Magyar '03.

More recently, Greg Armstrong '06 made Y2O3"Eu3+ nanoparticles and attempted to incorporate them into a sol-gel matrix. It's been fun and we've learned a lot, but so far our particles have not survived intac. Brendan Sullivan '07 used Tb3+ in sol-gel glasses to investigate energy transfer among rare earth ions. He studied the variation in intensity of 5D3 emission with annealing conditions. This summer Yubo Lu '07 and Dan Campbell '08 are continuing the work with Tb3+. They are studying the aging of sol-gel samples after annealing.

Courses Taught

I have taught introductory physics for science majors and pre-meds, a course about lasers specifically designed for students from outside the sciences, several intermediate level physics courses for physics majors, and have directed senior research projects. Physics 100-105, our introductory course called Survey of Physics, is a fairly standard first year physics course. The other 100-level course that I teach is Physics 140 - "Light and the Laser", a course for nonscientists. The classes have been made up of interesting collections of students: first-years through seniors, with majors ranging from art to religion to economics to..... Our syllabus covers geometric optics, E and M, wave theory of light and physical optics, and early quantum theory then moves on to specifics about lasers. For the past few years I've taught "Modern Physics", but we've recently renamed it "Quantum Physics" because we concentrate on physics before 1940 - not so Modern anymore. Last spring I led juniors through an advanced lab course to get them prepared for their senior research projects. I've also taught Statistical Physics and Classical Mechanics over the years.

Research Grants

Petroleum Research Fund “Fluorescence from Sol-gel Materials doped with Rare Earth Impurity Ions”, in collaboration with D.M. Boye, Davidson College, $50,000 for 2005-2008. Research performed at Hamilton and Davidson Colleges.

National Science Foundation MRI Program “Acquisition of Equipment for Thermal and Optical Studies of Sol-gel Materials Containing Rare Earth Ions” Co-PI, in collaboration with D.M. Boye, Davidson College,. $150,000 for 2004-20007. Research performed at Hamilton and Davidson Colleges.

Research Corporation, "Synthesis and Characterization of Rare-Earth Doped Sol-Gel Glasses". In collaboration with Karen Brewer. Funding for 2000-01.

National Science Foundation Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) Grant #DMR - 9101364, "Spectroscopy of Upconversion Laser Materials". $80,000 for 1991-95. Research performed at Hamilton College.

Research Corporation, "Spectroscopy of Upconversion Processes in Rare-Earth Based Solid State Laser Materials" $33,750 for purchase of laser equipment for spectroscopy laboratory at Hamilton College. 1991.

Research with Undergraduates

Publications (* denotes student author)

 

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Last modified 7/7/2005.
For questions or comments contact
Brian Collett
Physics Department
bcollett@hamilton.edu