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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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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School for Young Physicists

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

For the sixth year, a monthly event has been taking place in the Department of Physics and Mathematics of the University of Latvia – it is the School for Young Physicists. Each time, around 200 high school students from all of Latvia gather to explore a topic of physics that is generally not discussed in the school curriculum.

The activities start with bachelor, masters or doctorate level students explaining the monthly topic in an entertaining manner in two popular lectures. The emphasis is placed on introducing the basic concepts in an easy to understand way, while also trying to expand on the subjects covered in school and giving real world examples.
Thereafter, the attendants are tasked to conduct an experiment that shows how things discussed in the lectures appear in reality. The experiments are designed to differ from those done in school physics lessons. For example, in a session about optical waves, the students measured the amount of pixels on their phone screens by using laser diffraction and later compared the results to the information available about their phone online.

Lastly, a professional in the area of the month’s subject is invited to give a more in depth story about how the topics discussed are relevant in his or her field of expertise. This shows students the different possible career prospects associated with natural and technical sciences as well as giving them some insight in more contemporary issues that people are dealing with in these fields.
Because the event lasts five hours, students take breaks after each activity, in which they can stretch their feet and refresh themselves with a cup of tea and the food provided. Every time we prepare various types of sandwiches with cheese, sausage, vegetables etc. and afterwards some cookies and chocolate.

A competitive spirit among the students is maintained by organizing contests and giving away prizes. After the popular lectures, tests are handed out to students. Their scores are gathered up and the best ones are awarded. Furthermore, a contest among schools is held, where the test scores of top students of that school are tallied up as well as points earned from completing home assignments given after each session. These home assignments usually involve exploring the topic discussed in everyday situations and filming it. At the end of the season, the school with the most points receives the honorable School Cup and the students some bigger prizes than the ones usually handed out.

In the past year, topics such as rotational mechanics, forensic science, biophysics and optics have been covered. Experimental highlights have been the aforementioned pixel measuring with light diffraction as well as solving a crime by inspecting a set up crime scene for clues. As for the professional lecturers, notable examples are a professional physicist working in forensics giving a lecture on his work and a high standing professor introducing high school students to the world of quantum physics.
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Optical Workshop

Posted on 09/12/201511/01/2016 by YM Webmaster

Each year University Jaume I (UJI) of Castellón celebrates the days of dissemination called “Connecta amb la Ciència” (means “Connect with the Science”). These days have the objective of publicize the courses and degrees offered by the scientific area of the UJI. People (teachers, postdocs, students…) working in several areas from the university go to many places around the region of Castellón and offer workshops about chemistry, videogames, optics and photonics, renewable energies, etc. and many high school students attend these workshops.
Taking advantage of the conference “Connecta amb la Ciència” the GOC members have travelled through different towns of the province to bring science to high school students.
We have prepared several micro workshops to show different physical properties and concepts related to optics (atmospheric scattering, refraction, diffraction on a CD, light absorption, polarization…) and also explain how works the human eye. In this way, students from all region have the opportunity to learn science by having fun.
We showed these workshops in 2014 and teachers from different high schools requested our workshops also for this year 2015 because the students enjoyed them. This year we have only visited the Puerto de Sagunto town (last 2nd March) and a high school near to the university (last 22nd April). However we have already planned visiting Morella (23rd October), Vinaroz (26th October), Sagunto (9th November), and Vila-Real (16th November). We have some new material for improve our explanations, so we hope students learn more and enjoy very much!

How does fundamental research work?

Posted on 08/12/201503/05/2016 by YM Webmaster

This year, the Erlangen MPL YM Section organized three school outreach events. On July 27 we had the first school outreach event with 23 students from the Gymnasium Fridericianum in Erlangen. This was followed by a similar event on August 20 with 18 students from different local schools. Finally, on December 8, we hold our school outreach event for 15 winners of the German youth science competition “Jugend forscht” who were visiting our home institute.
Many people are fascinated by and interested in fundamental research. However, only a few have a realistic picture of how science really works. With our school outreach events we want to convey a realistic picture of what it means to do fundamental research and why it is of importance. To do so, we first give an overview of the organization of our home institute, the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, and then give an insight of our daily business as researchers. We answer questions like: How do researchers get new ideas? What steps are necessary to conduct an experiment? What problems do usually occur? How do researchers make other aware of their findings? We try to share our real-life experiences from our scientific work in the field of optics. This first part is followed by a demonstration experiment that relates to a current research topic in optics. Currently, we have set up an experiment to make single molecules visible. Another experiments let the audience experience actual quantum fluctuations. The experiment are accompanied by an interesting introduction to the physics involved and an explanation of the observations. In addition, we usually screen a short movie that explains (free-space continuous variable) quantum key distribution, a current research topic at our institute. Members of our chapter answer questions after the movie. When the school outreach event takes place at our home institute, we also offer the participants a tour through our labs.
By talking about a topic beyond the regular curriculum, we try to fascinate the high-school students and infect them with our passion for optics. Moreover, we emphasize the impact of optical technology in the present and future. In addition, we want to motivate young people to study science, in particular optics, and later on become part of the scientific community. Due to the personal experience of the presenters and the different styles of presentation during the events, we usually raise a lot of interest and questions among the audience. We plan to continue this successful series of school outreach events also in 2016.

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