IYL – Cross-Border Night Flea Market

Posted on 07/01/201618/02/2016 by YM Webmaster

As a special event for the International Year of Light the Konstanz jDPG-YM Section organized an information booth on the yearly cross-border night flea market Konstanz/Kreuzlingen. The goal was to inform a broad public about the fundamental physics on which every day technology like LCD displays or fiber optical communication is based. To help the visitors understand these phenomena we build several hands- on experiments including a simple spectrometer, a RGB-LED color mixer, a water beam as light guide and an LCD-display partly without polarizer. Accompanying every experiment we also prepared an information sheet explaining it in a simple way. Beside these experiments we cooperated with the young chemists forum (JCF) Konstanz and the astronomical community at the University of Konstanz (AIGUK) who also prepared experiments to explain every day phenomena like chemo luminescence or the spectrum of the sun.

Especially at night we gained a large interest by an eye-catching illumination of the experiments itself and the booth. Since the booth was directly aside the main road but not on it, there was a steady flow of interested visitors but also the possibility to have detailed discussions with the guests. The busiest time turned out to be early Saturday evening between 9pm and 1am. Because of bad weather (thunderstorm) most flea market visitors left around 1am and we decided to close the booth for the night. On Sunday, the main attraction of our booth changed from the well illuminated experiments on LCD-displays and optical fibers to a telescope for sun observation from AIGUK. It was placed on the path in front of our booth and guided the visitors to the other experiments.

Overall we got a lot of positive feedback from the visitors, who often had never thought about the basic principles of the technology they use in everyday life before. The total number of visitors we had a conversation with and to whom we explained our experiments lies approximately between 200-300 people.

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Light: past, present, and future applications

Posted on 29/12/201511/01/2016 by YM Webmaster

Light is life. Light is fundamental for many biological processes. It is involved in a huge quantity of technological applications, which make our daily life simpler. Nevertheless the awareness of the important role played by light lies in shadows for most of the average people. In Physics, the double (wave-particle) nature of light is one of the most fascinating aspects, which engaged the attention of the scientific community for more than a century. In order to celebrate the International Year of Light (IYL2015) the Messina YM Section organized different activities. They can be grouped into two main categories: seminars and outreach. The former was mostly addressed to students from bachelor to Ph.D. level, while the main target of the latter was stimulating interest in Light, and more in general in Physics, among undergraduate students and children.
Light seminars were organized with the help of the “Appunti di Fisica” group in Messina. They ranged from astronomy and basic concepts to the most useful applications involving light. The following is the list of the events proposed to the scientific community:

The birth of Light: a brief story on the visible Universe (C. Cecchi-Pestellini – INAF Palermo)
The laser calibration system of the muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab (A. Anastasi – YM Messina member)
Light in Chemistry (S. Campagna – University of Messina)
Sun as renewable energy source (G. Gambadoro – University of Messina)
Quantum Light-Matter interactions (S. Savasta, L. Garziano – University of Messina)
Light trapping in a 2D-fractal system (B. Fazio – CNR IPCF Messina)
The invisible light: An industrial application of infrared microscopy (S. Patanè – University of Messina)
One-day workshop on Light (6 speakers – appuntidifisicamessina)

After each seminar a coffee break was offered by our section to the participants, also to stimulate further discussions and promoting YM section activities.
Regarding the Outreach activities our main target was to arise high school students’ interest on the physical nature of light, by diffusing knowledge from the basic principles of electromagnetism to some of the many possible applications. We managed to do it by means of demonstrative experiments in which light was the main character. We met students in high schools or in the university locals. During these events we performed different experiments, such as interference with laser, diffusion of light through prisms and so on. In these activities students had the opportunity to play with hands in the experiments, handling polarizers, lenses and prisms. We think that this approach is the most effective to get involved students with physics.
By collaborating with a local environmental group (“Fare Verde”), we also took part to European Solar Days, a project finalized to raise the awareness of the importance of the solar energy among people and especially children. For this reason we organized a demonstration of devices and toys working with solar energy in the main square of Messina.

Scientifica 15

Posted on 20/12/201520/01/2016 by YM Webmaster

Each Year, the ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich organized a large outreach event called Scientifica. In 2015, the topic was “Light”. As representor of the OSA/SPIE and EPS; we had a booth where the main activity was a big laser maze. In a dark room, laser were set up as in a bank/museum security system. Children had then the opportunity to try to go thought the maze without starting the alarm!
For this purpose the EPS money was used to build a proper, reusable laser security system. We have now a set of 8 laser and detector, easily connectable to a central alarm. We planned to reuse this experiment for future similar activities as the interest was really high. We were indeed one of the most visited both! People even had to wait to go through the maze…
In a parallel, we had some smaller game base on lasers (a kind of laser chess from an outreach kit) and some small experiments to demonstrate optics. We had a laser coupled to a fiber through a collimator and some ray optics demonstrations. This experiment were goo for the parents waiting for their children in the laser maze.
I was a large effort from our side to make a proper laser system that can be reused but thanks to the grant, we had the possibility this time to buy the requested quality components. We indeed already had a laser maze in 2013 but the systems was not reusable at all. So thanks!

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Visiting of primary and secondary schools

Posted on 20/12/201520/01/2016 by YM Webmaster

YM Prague section took as one of its first projects popularization of science, encourage to study natural sciences, and clarify the functioning of the scientific environment. And to do this, members of YM Prague section visited schools. In one case, the situation was reversed: we welcomed, we welcomed one group of students at our faculty.

We have visited several schools in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (because of the internationality of our team) where, after the agreement with the school director, we presented interesting topics of modern physics in an accessible way for high school students, for instance quark-gluon plasma, standard model of particle physics, collider physics and others. Furthermore, we have talked about the functioning of research at universities in the Czech Republic and then, for example, in international institutions such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research – CERN. The lecture was followed by a debate with the students about the presented topics and about direction of their future education. As mentioned above, our faculty was also visited by a high-school student group, so we ensured them small snack as a welcome.
In summary, around 100 of students participated in our lectures.

A great success for our group was the opportunity to present at a summer school “Tudy cesta nevede.” Czech expression for “This is not the way”. Website (in Czech) http://tcn.fjfi.cvut.cz). This is the traditional summer school in the Czech republic, this year, in 2015, it was the 15th year, for high-school students interested in physics, mathematics, and other natural science. The summer school was organized into lectures and workshops, and our group was involved in the theoretical part with lectures on experimental particle physics. We had great amount of time to present, meaning one morning session (around 3 hours). Group of 40 students was visiting our session.
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Students 4 Students 2015

Posted on 20/12/201523/07/2016 by YM Webmaster

One of the main goals of EPS Young Minds project is to connect young scientists among different physics fields, and therefore we decided to organize students’ colloquiums, where young scientists from our university presented their research activities.

Colloquiums, which was named Physics Pizza Party according to offered refreshments, were held regularly every second week, on Wednesday afternoon, from 5 P.M. Totally, we organized five colloquiums, where different physics fields, namely experimental nuclear and particle physics, applied mathematical modelling, nuclear engineering and thermonuclear fusion, were presented by Ph.D. and master students. For majority of invited speakers, it was their first experience to present their research activities in front of the the audience, which was not familiar with the topic. Despite of this fact, each talk was perfectly prepared, and therefore there was no problem to understand given topic. These events were scheduled for 30-45 minutes, but due to participants’ interest and their questions, in the end the colloquiums took more time – around 2 hours. According to the speakers it was very rewarding experience for them.

These events were advertised in form of posters, which were placed in school buildings. For the purpose of inviting as many participants as possible, we also advertised it on our social sites, namely Facebook and Twitter. Thanks to this advertisement, our students’ colloquiums were most visited. Average number of participants was around 20 students per one colloquium. The presented topics were so interesting, that besides the students from our faculty, the colloquiums were also attended by the students from different university.

The Prague EPS Young Minds Section found these colloquiums rewarding, since this style of presentation “students for students” is still very rare in our country and we were one of the first, who organized this style of colloquiums. According to the feedback from our participants, we concluded, that our colloquiums were successful, since they were very positively rated by participants. Thanks to these positive feedback and high number of participants, we would like to continue with this activity.

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Posters

Posted on 20/12/201520/01/2016 by YM Webmaster

Prague section of EPS Young Minds project is the first one in the Czech Republic. It is not connected with any other group or local project. That is why it is needed, that as many people as possible recognize it and are informed about our goals and activities.

In these days, there many possibilities to promote activities and we try to exploit all of them. We would like to make good image to the name of “Young Minds”, so that every student is familiar with our main goals and style of our activities. That is why we decided to also prepare big posters, badges and business cards that were distributed to all people visiting our events, or to those, that could be future participants in our events.

Badges are very popular promotional object in these days. You can just pin them to your bag or jacket, and then everybody who see it knows, that you are interested in promoted activity. Layout of our Young Minds badge is simple – we just redesigned Young Minds logo. By having it on these badges, YM logo is being more and more known. Some people are asking about this logo, and consequently about the Young Minds project itself. We produced 50 badges, every YM member is obliged to have it on and we also distributed it in our events.

Lot of young students are not used to write down email addresses or another contact, they just hope to remember it. That is one of reasons why we designed business cards with information about our section. These are also more useful for face-to-face discussions about our activities. First bunch containing 40 low quality business card was distributed in one week that is why we decided to redesign them to be as attractive as possible and to print them in better quality. Fifty of them was produced, and we are distributing them every time it is needed.

These two mentioned manners are kind of active advertising, but we also produced the passive one. It is a big poster that is situated in hall of our faculty. It contains basic information about the goals not only of the Young Minds project, but also the EPS and the Czech Union of Mathematicians and Physicists. Our plan is to produce another type with short opinions of our members about becoming an active member of YM.
These object helped us with spreading idea of Young Minds.

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Reunión Nacional de Óptica Joven, RNOJ (Young Optics Spanish Meeting)

Posted on 20/12/201520/01/2016 by YM Webmaster

One of the most important national meetings is the RNO (Reunión Nacional de Óptical) that was held in Salamanca. Due to our work as PhD Students, this meeting is a great opportunity to meet other YM Section and to perform some activities and improve our social network.

In this case the Student Chapter from Salamanca proposed an outdoor activity during the afternoon. In this case the proposal was to make some experiments in one of the major squares in Salamanca. In our case, the proposal was to bring some of our material from Santiago and make one of the experiments we usually make. In this case we propose the performance of some activites we make in a local festival in Santiago (“Festa da Primavera”). We brought material like our Tindall Experiment or our portable black camera.

Moreover the outreach performed by the different student groups, the RNOJ was a good possibility to exchange our feelings about optics, our YM activities and the improvement of our social connections.

This activity is important to make strong connections and to make new collaborations between the groups. As an example we talked with the YM Section from Valladolid and with the OSA Student Chapter from Salamanca about to make some activities in the St. James Way. In this case we need to make efforts if we want to make possible this kind of huge purposes, however we think that it is a significant example about how important are this kind of meetings between the young researchers and their Students groups.

Light Videos

Posted on 20/12/201520/01/2016 by YM Webmaster

Light Videos was an idea to arouse awareness about optics using Internet. We proposed to make different videos about optics. We have prepared a number of theme blocks: Physical explanations, Optics experiments and physical curiosities.

The idea of the Physical explanations is to show some features of physical phenomena that cannot be performed in outdoor activities. For this block we need the collaboration of the professors of the faculty in order to open their labs. The members of the YM Section are mainly from a group that works with lasers. For this reason we have prepared explaining, for example, how a lab Laser works.

Optics experiments were planned as a tool for all the educational community. First experiments were the ones we make in our basic optics in the school activity. With this proposal we want to make teachers able to do the experiments by their own. Moreover we plan to make some video hints in the future for Grade students of physics that want to know more about the experiments they perform in the lab lessons.

Regarding the film outreach of physics, we start to collaborate with a local group of TV producers that have made during the year a programmer for the region TV called: “Eche así”. This programme has been emitted weekly during the summer. One of the programs was dedicated to optics. In this case we collaborate with some material purchased with EPS and OSA grants and also with our personal collaboration.

This collaboration will last during 2016 with new collaboration we planned with these group and we hope to make some video interviews talking about optics for them.

Optics in Schools

Posted on 20/12/201520/01/2016 by YM Webmaster

Optics in schools is an activity well established in our group. During the last year we performed numerous activities in Primary schools and also in High Schools. Our expertise allows us to make more efficient our work, due to that several schools asked us for new activities for the next year. Due to the geographical situation in our surroundings, it is very common for us to travel by car to the schools in the countryside. This is one of the drawbacks we want to solve next year by suggesting the performance of the activities in one place and arranging the activity with different schools at the same time.

As it was planned in the last grant application, we developed the activity in 4 main groups that are: Polarization, Light-matter interaction, Visual optics and Light Propagation. Moreover we started new lines and tried it in different schools, for example, we are working in a new block related with cameras and optical instruments, in this particular case, we want to show how a camera or a telescope works.

We noted in High Schools, a big interest from students about what’s going on when they reach the University and finish their degree. We are thinking about the performance of new talks about this issue.

In summary, we are very confident of our work in this particular activity. This activity was the first we made when the student Young Mind Section was created, and we hope to still work in this field. We are also considering several options to improve our performance and to make more intelligible the activities when we worked with kids. Also we want to be in touch with the professionals of the education and worked with them to improve our work.

Outreach toward school

Posted on 20/12/201520/01/2016 by YM Webmaster

We have selected for this activity enthusiastic students of secondary schools. We have divided this activity into two parts. Firstly, we have done simple experiments in physics to promote “nice learning” and also the informal divulgation of physics. In particular, we have build an electrical motor with students. An electric motor of DC type is a device useful in everyday life to control the direction of motor rotation. We tried to build such a type of device. Used materials were very simple. As an example, we have used a copper wire as a coil. Moreover, we have done experiments to let the students to explore the electromagnetic spectrum, also by means of UV light (with a Wood lamp) to let the students to appreciate and understand what it is hidden inside electronic cards, official documents, such as passports and money.
Secondly, we have organized guided tours to the laboratories of condensed matter physics of University of Calabria. Senior students described their experiences as Physics students at University of Calabria while providing an overview of the academic programs and facilities.
We have shown visiting students the laboratories of Surface Science, Vibrational Spectroscopy and Electronic Spectroscopy of the Department of Physics. We have also guided students to see the nanoindenter facility in the DIMEG Department and the Raman spectrometer at DIATIC. We have asked the collaboration of young researchers of visited labs to explain the students the most important concepts of their research work, in order to provide the students an idea about daily work as researchers. Simple experiments have been carried out in the presence of students (e.g. diffraction pattern and Raman spectrum). Students had the possibility to tune the energy in diffraction experiments to change the pattern.
The students did many questions and this could be taken as a valuable indicator of the degree of success of the whole outreach activity.
To gain awareness about EPS and SIF, we have invited students to join physical societies.
Finally, we mention that a snack was offered to participants (student+teachers) in each visit. We would like to acknowledge teachers for their kind collaboration.
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