| NSF Org: |
PHY Division Of Physics |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | January 14, 2008 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | May 17, 2012 |
| Award Number: | 0748742 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Ann Orel
PHY Division Of Physics MPS Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| Start Date: | February 1, 2008 |
| End Date: | January 31, 2014 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $478,495.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $523,495.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2009 = $95,000.00 FY 2010 = $95,000.00 FY 2011 = $95,000.00 FY 2012 = $90,000.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3100 MARINE ST Boulder CO US 80309-0001 (303)492-6221 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
3100 MARINE ST Boulder CO US 80309-0001 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | ATOMIC & MOLECULAR DYNAMICS |
| Primary Program Source: |
01000910DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001011DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001112DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001213DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.049 |
ABSTRACT
This CAREER award supports an experimental research program investigating cold and ultracold molecular collisions and chemical reactions in an unexplored temperature regime close to absolute zero. Interactions between polar molecules are critically different from those between cold atoms. The long-range dipole-dipole interactions present in molecular systems are anisotropic not only in magnitude, but also in sign. These large anisotropic interactions create new dynamics and handles to control collisions in polar molecule systems. Cold molecules will be produced by Stark deceleration, which uses inhomogeneous electric fields to slow the molecules to rest. The resulting molecules will be trapped using electric and magnetic fields leading to long interactions times and thus precise measurements of the collisions. Once the cold dense samples are created, chemical reactions and collisions with rubidium atoms will be studied at milliKelvin temperatures. Until now, chemists have been not been able to study reactions below 10K. Understanding lower temperature reactions is critical to modeling several relevant chemical systems including interstellar cloud chemistry.
The broader impacts of this work include an integrated plan for improving student learning of experimental science. Several levels of students will be addressed in this program. The first group will be upper-level undergraduate physics majors. Undergraduate students often are not exposed to the process of professional research. Most senior lab courses are cookbook in nature and fail to teach students the necessary skills for independent research. A systematic, evaluation-based approach will be taken to change the senior-level lab course in both structure and content to address this deficiency in undergraduate education. In addition to restructuring the senior lab course, a workshop session titled ?From light bulbs to lasers? will be developed to introduce middle-school-aged girls to experimental science.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The intellectual merit outcomes from the project include efficiently creating samples of small molecules at temperatures far below 1 K, and using these samples to study how electric fields affect the microscopic interactions of molecules and atoms. We were able to cool ammonia molecules and trap them for seconds inside our vacuum system. We then introduced laser-cooled rubidium atoms and measured their interactions in the presence of an electric field. We found that the interactions were greatly affected by the field even though the atoms are weakly coupled to the electric field. This result opens up new possibilities for controlling molecular interactions with external fields even with only one polar species.
The broader impacts of the project focused on training undergraduate students in experimental physics through instructional labs. The project has had a significant impact on the Colorado physics department through the transformed Advanced Lab course, has advanced the state of Physics Education Research in laboratory courses, has included development of transformation resources and assessments for faculty desiring to implement change in their own courses, and has helped to bridge the communities of lab instructors and physics education researchers.
One particular product of the education effort is a new epistemology and expectation survey for experimental physics. Over 5000 students have used this validated survey across the US in 28 institutions in 98 courses. The resulting data give instructors actionable feedback to improve their courses and allow researchers a view into the state of physics lab instruction in the US.
Last Modified: 04/09/2014
Modified by: Heather J Lewandowski
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