Steven Tran Rose Hills
Plasma Spray AR Coating of CMB Optics
Studying the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) requires highly sensitive optical instrumentation. I will be developing antireflective (AR) coating for lenses to be deployed in Chile to study the CMB. These AR coatings lower reflective loss, help separate CMB signals from other interference, and increase the bandwidth of the signal from the early universe. I will be developing AR coatings using plasma spray, specifically high velocity oxy-fuel spray. This method superheats a material which is then jetted on a surface to yield a uniform surface coating. Parameters of the spray must be optimized to yield the desired refractive properties of the coatings. Furthermore, I will be working with plasma spray as a method of repairing a broken alumina lens. My research goal is to be able to fine tune the use of plasma spray for optical coatings.
Message To Sponsor
I would like to thank the Rose Hills Foundation for supporting me, among other students, to do research this summer. Your support is helping me to just focus on research this summer, and not worry about getting a job or paying for expenses otherwise. This is my first real R&D effort and I hope to be able to contribute to the physics and optics community. I appreciate the opportunity and will strive to succeed this summer.