Lab Members

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Faculty:
Jaideep Taggart Singh, Assistant Professor – I apply atomic, molecular, & optical physics techniques to answer fundamental questions in nuclear and particle physics. My passion is creating, manipulating, and detecting spin-polarized nuclei. I’m an Assistant Professor at the NSCL/FRIB which is a part of Michigan State University located in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. I have a joint appointment with the Department of Physics & Astronomy, which is where I currently teach the Advanced Physics Lab. My favorite scientific instrument is the Lock-In Amplifier.

Grad Students:

Tenzin Ragba (2015-current) I’m a graduate student in the spinlab but currently based at Argonne National Lab. I work here on our Ra-225 permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) search experiment. This involves using lasers to cool and trap atoms into a very small region with very stable electric and magnetic fields to study their spin precession. Because of their versatility and the ability they provide us to study atomic phenomena with such precision, lasers are my favorite tools in the lab. That being said, I do spend most of my time in the lab being as unhappy with them as they are with me.

 

Roy Ready (2015-current) – I joined Spinlab in Fall 2015 after switching from accelerator physics to atomic physics. I’ve worked on projects related to astrophysics and planetary science as an undergraduate at California State University, Long Beach. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in grad school, but I knew I wanted to work with my hands with equipment in the lab. In Jaideep’s group I’ve built quite a few circuits and designed some hardware with the help of our NSCL engineers. I work on the RaEDM project, which is part of a collaboration with Argonne National Lab for attempting to measure the permanent Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) of Radium-225, a short-lived isotope of Radium. My favorite instrument is the waveform generator. I’ve used one of our 2-channel units for testing circuit responses to AC and DC voltage, and its high precision will allow me to use it as a voltage reference for remotely controlling our high voltage system.

Ben Loseth (2017-) I began working in Spinlab during the Summer 2017 after moving away from research in beam dynamics simulations of muon cooling channels. I am working on the Single Atom Microscope project, where we hope to detect individual Ytterbium and Magnesium atoms in a solid Neon film using high-resolution spectroscopy. I wait, with bated breath, to discover a favorite scientific instrument. I suppose oscilloscopes are okay.

Undergrads:

Maegan Johnson, Professorial Assistant (2014-) I’m slowly working towards a double major in computer science and physics. My core passion is comp sci, but I like it in the context of other research, such as physics. Currently as a personal project I’m working on translating the laser trap Monte Carlo simulation from Fortran 77 to C++. I suppose my favorite scientific instrument is the computer. When not doing academics, I enjoy crafting, and spending time in the great outdoors.

Steven Fromm, DRS Program (2015-current) I am an Army veteran and currently attending MSU working on a physics major.  My current project in Spinlab is running Monte Carlo simulations of our Radium EDM experiment’s laser trap; this allows us to test out various experimental upgrades and find ways to improve our trapping efficiency.  I also work on developing various data acquisition systems that we use here in Spinlab.

 

Daniel Coulter (2015-current) –   I am an undergraduate studying physics and astrophysics at MSU. I began working in the Spinlab group in May 2015. I am working on the Radium EDM Project and I am in charge of the Spinlab Magnetic Field Mapping Project. In addition to working with this group, I also do astrophysics research with Dr. Laura Chomiuk, focusing mainly on observations of variable stars. Once I get my undergraduate degree, I plan to attend grad school and study astrophysics. When I am not in the lab I enjoy traveling throughout the US, hiking, mountain climbing, photography, and writing/playing/listening to music. Favorite Scientific Instrument: MSU Observatory 24″ Telescope.
Adam Powers (2016-current) –  I have worked as an undergraduate research assistant on the Radium EDM project since Spring of 2016. Our work mostly involves using the magnetic field-blocking prototype to make residual magnetic field measurements on different types of metallic electrodes, and a high voltage vacuum enclosure used to condition the electrodes we use. I mostly work on taking measurements and improving our measurement taking process with the prototype. My favorite scientific instrument is the prototype we use to take our measurements in due to its unique material properties and the sensitivity it allows us to measure at.

 

Fry Fang (2017-) I’m an undergraduate student studying physics at MSU. I began working in the Spinlab in May 2017 and currently I am working on Single Atom Microscope project. The main task that I have now is to analyze/monitor the impurities in our vacuum system. The favorite scientific instrument is the Residual Gas Analyzer. It’s amazing to see the peaks on the scans. Identifying the peaks can tell me what is in our vacuum system and it makes me feel like I am actually ‘seeing’ those gases.

Brian Hanley (2017-)

 

Peyton Lalain (2017-) – DRS Program – I’m an undergrad student majoring in physics at MSU. After graduation, I plan to go to graduate school and pursue a doctorate in physics. My love of physics stems from the satisfaction I get from seeing mathematical calculations take form in the physical world. I have always had a particular interest in nuclear physics, which I am able to explore in Spinlab. My favorite piece of scientific equipment would have to be a spectrometer.

 

Sean Kennedy (2017-) – Professorial Assistant

Sam Schalk (2017-) – Professorial Assistant