Cerne Group-People

John Cerne Associate Professor PhD in experimental condensed matter physics from theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara, AB in physics from Princeton University email: jcerne_at_buffalo.edu http://electron.physics.buffalo.edu/cerne/

Gheorghe Acbas Research Associate, PhD graduate student MS degree in expermiental condensed matter physics, University at Buffalo, SUNY email: acbas_at_buffalo.edu

Myoung-Hwan Kim Research Associate, PhD graduate student MS degree in expermiental condensed matter physics, University at Buffalo, SUNY  email: mk226_at_buffalo.edu

Chase Ellis Research Associate, PhD graduate student email: FJNappo_at_aol.com

Frank Nappo Physics High School Teacher at Lockport High School, Lockport NY email: chs.els_at_gmail.com

Former group members:

Master's Students:

Andreas Wittmann, Spring 2001, Graduate Independent Study: Repaired and set-up a CO₂ laser; currently a PhD student at the Technical University of Munich, Germany

Sönke Sachs, 2002-2003, Co-supervised with Prof. Andrea Markelz at UB, Built and tested a large aperture THz emitting antenna; Master's Thesis defended 8/03: Towards nonlinear ac conductivity measurements using high field terahertz spectroscopy (Summer 2003).

Tobias Kiessling, 2003-2004, Studied magnetic materials using magneto-polarimetry; Master's Thesis defended 8/04: Magneto-optical studies in the mid-infrared on oxides and semiconductors (Summer 2004). Currently a PhD student at the University of Würzberg, Germany.

Misty Houseknecht, 2005-2006, Developed and used new software to analyze Faraday effect measurements on electron doped cuprate superconductors. Characterized background signals for these measurements. Master's Thesis defended 8/06: Infrared Hall effect in the electron-doped high Tc cuprate Pr_2-xCe_xCuO₄.

Harkiran Bedi, Fall 2006, Analyzed measurements of background signals and measured the effects of stray magnetic fields on the output of a laser to determine the unexpected behavior in the background Faraday signals at 3.4 m wavelength. Project defended 12/21/06: Anomalous Background Signal in Magneto-Polarization Measurements at 3.4 m.

Volker Kurz, 2006-2007, Studied charge density wave materials and characterized conventional semiconductors using infrared magneto-polarimetry. Master's thesis defended 8/07: Magneto-optical measurements on NbSe2, BaF2 and GaAs.

Ming-Hsien Yang, 2005-2007: Infrared anomalous Hall effect in magnetic oxides. Master's thesis defended 8/07: DC Hall and Infrared Hall effect in SrRuO3 and CaRuO3.

Undergraduate Students:

 Michael Milligan Summer 2001, NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates: Interfaced an obsolete translation stage to a modern microcomputer and software

Robert Stearker Summer 2001

David Aylward Spring 2002, Undergraduate Independent Study, participated in a Quantum Mechanics Honors independent study course that I developed and taught.

Michael Syposs Spring 2002, Undergraduate Independent Study, participated in a Quantum Mechanics Honors independent study course that I developed and taught.

Lindsay Peterson Spring 2002, Undergraduate Independent Study, participated in a Quantum Mechanics Honors independent study course that I developed and taught.

Richard Cosetino Spring 2002, Undergraduate Independent Study, participated in a Quantum Mechanics Honors independent study course that I developed and taught.

William Cox 2002-2003, Developed instrumentation and made electric polarization and THz transmission measurements on ferroelectric materials.

Vikas Patel Fall 2003-Spring 2004, Undergraduate Independent Study, made infrared magneto-optical measurements on diluted magnetic semiconductors, Honors' Thesis: Mid-infrared magneto-optical properties of diluted magnetic semiconductors; won the Outstanding Senior award and entered the UB medical physics program with a Presidential Fellowship.

Ken Smith Spring 2004, Undergraduate Independent Study, helped repair CO laser power supply.

Ariel Arroyo Spring 2004, Undergraduate Independent Study, helped repair CO laser power supply.

Matthew Moynihan Spring 2004, Undergraduate Independent Study, helped build gas handling manifold for CO laser, built a circuit using etched board to control a detector shutter.

Matthew Bishara Spring 2004, Undergraduate Independent Study, helped build gas handling manifold for CO laser, characterized power of laser as a function of grating position and used these measurements to calibrate laser output wavelengths.

Alexander Bohn 2004-2005, Undergraduate Independent Study, made preliminary infrared magneto-optical measurements on magnetic semiconductors and oxides.

Jaymee Minner 2005-, Undergraduate Research Assistant, helped to develop website for teaching fundamental and applied concepts in waves, optics and modern physics: Conceptual Learning Approach to Waves (CLAW) http://www.physics.buffalo.edu/claw/

Michael Gerfin 2006-, Undergraduate Independent Study, improved the user interface for my Java polarization demo programs (http://www.physics.buffalo.edu/cerne/education/polarization.html) and is developing new instructional modules for CLAW.

Daniel Crowe Summer 2006, Undergraduate Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Summer Intern, made a kicker circuit to drive the Foucault pendulum at the Buffalo Museum of Science. Won LSAMP Leadership Award for his work. Made poster to describe this mechanism for Department and Museum. Interestingly, Dan first visited my lab as a high school student in 2004 during "Shadow Day" (a Kenmore West High School program) when I showed my lab to students and talked about my research.

Michael DiNezza May 2007-, electrical engineering student who is working in Dr. W.A. Anderson's group growing materials that he is characterizing with my help in my Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect Advanced Lab.

Michelle Ratajczak Fall 2007 Independent Study: MOKE measurements on GaMn films

Nathaniel Feldberg Spring 2008 Independent Study: MOKE measurements on GaMn films

Nicholas De Meglio Spring 2008 characterized, modified, and repaired a high-speed, low-noise pre-amplifier for an infrared detector

High School Students:

 Daniel Sigurdson, Summer 2006, Sweet Home High School Junior: built a low-noise preamplifier for one of the lab's infrared detectors. Modeled circuit on a computer, tested components on a breadboard, and successfully tested and used preamplifier to amplify detector signal from an infrared laser.