Internships

Diana Chin ’14

This summer I worked as an intern in Professor Claire Gmachl’s group in the ­Department of Electrical Engineering. I helped conduct research on improving the beam ­quality of quantum cascade lasers. These lasers can potentially be used in a ­variety of ­portable devices for sensing trace gases in the atmosphere, and can thus be key in ­detecting things like global warming effects or the development of nuclear ­weapons. ­However, in order for their beams to be most effectively focused and utilized, they have to be refined. I worked on trying to reduce the number of interfering ­higher ­order modes of a Quantum Cascade laser by coupling the laser beam through hollow core glass ­waveguides. By ­imaging, graphing, and comparing the intensity profiles of the ­laser light ­before and after the use of different fibers, we were able to find that the use of a single mode fiber was ­effective in filtering out a great deal of the higher order modes. Through my own ­experiences and through the support of the Gmachl group, I feel that I was able to learn a great deal this summer about both my topic and about the research process in general.