Department of Physics

Recent Submissions

  • Snake fangs : 3D morphological and mechanical analysis by microCT, simulation, and physical compression testing 

    Du Plessis, Anton; Broeckhoven, Chris; Le Roux, Stephan G. (Oxford University Press, 2018)
    This Data Note provides data from an experimental campaign to analyse the detailed internal and external morphology and mechanical properties of venomous snake fangs. The aim of the experimental campaign was to investigate ...

  • Emerging translational variance : vacuum polarization energy of the 𝜙6 kink 

    Weigel, H. (Hindawi, 2017-07-30)
    We propose an efficient method to compute the vacuum polarization energy of static field configurations that do not allow decomposition into symmetric and antisymmetric channels in one space dimension. In particular, we ...

  • Simple models of three coupled PT-symmetric wave guides allowing for third-order exceptional points 

    Schnabel, Jan; Cartarius, Holger; Main, Jorg; Wunner, Gunter; Heiss, Walter Dieter (Czech Technical University--Prague, 2017-08)
    We study theoretical models of three coupled wave guides with a PT-symmetric distribution of gain and loss. A realistic matrix model is developed in terms of a three-mode expansion. By comparing with a previously postulated ...

  • Proportional crosstalk for the iThemba LABS clover detector 

    Noncolela, S. P.; Bucher, T. D.; Lawrie, E. A.; Dinoko, T. R. S.; Easton, J. L.; Erasmus, N.; Lawrie, J. J.; Mthembu, S. H.; Mtshali, W. X.; Shirinda, O.; Orce, J. N. (Jagiellonian University, 2017-03)
    Measurements of the proportional crosstalk were performed for the iThemba LABS segmented clover detector. More than 1000 crosstalk parameters were determined and a crosstalk correction algorithm was implemented successfully.

  • Chiral bands in 193Tl 

    Ndayishimye, J.; Lawrie, E. A.; Shirinda, O.; Easton, J. L.; Wyngaardt, S. M.; Bark, R. A.; Bvumbi, S. P.; Dinoko, T. R. S.; Jones, P.; Kheswa, N. Y.; Lawrie, J. J.; Majola, S. N. T.; Masiteng, P. L.; Negi, D.; Orce, J. N.; Papka, P.; Sharpey-Schafer, J. F.; Stankiewicz, M.; Wiedeking, M. (Jagiellonian University, 2017-03)
    Since the introduction of chirality in nuclei, the search for chiral candidates in different mass regions has been a hot topic for about two decades. At iThemba LABS, a new chiral symmetry region, the thallium isotopes with ...

  • Optical tweezers for advanced microscopy 

    Erasmus, Anneke (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: The integration of lasers into microscopy has enabled new areas of research and expanded existing ones. Not only can one now image samples to resolutions and contrast unheard of before lasers became ...

  • Investigating the photo-induced ultrafast insulator-metal phase transition in organic Cu(DCNQI)2 salts by ultrafast electron diffraction 

    Smit, Albert Bart (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: This work presents the structural dynamics of the organic crystal Cu(DCNQI)2 (DCNQI: dicyanoquinonediimine) as it undergoes a photo-induced insulator-to-metal (IM) transition. Cu(DCNQI)2, a radical ion ...

  • Point spread function engineering for fluorescence microscopy 

    Holinirina Dina Miora, Ratsimandresy (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: A tool for biological imaging is developed within this work. It consists of engineering the point spread function (PSF) of a fluorescent molecule or a nanoparticle emitter by modulating the phase of the ...

  • New developments in the nuclear binary cluster-core in the heavy nuclear region 

    Kaya, Boniface Dimitri Christel Kimene (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The atomic nucleus is a complex many-body interacting system, which exhibits a underlying correlated set of nucleon states. The cluster model is one of the most reliable models that predicts the strongly ...

  • Non-commutative quantum mechanics in 3-dimensional fuzzy space and its applications 

    Groenewald, Hendrikus Wilhelm (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: As the structure of space-time at very short length scales comparable to the Planck length remains a contentious issue, this study aims to determine whether non-commutative space-time would prove to be ...

  • Photophysics and photovoltaic application of direct heteroarylation derived isoindigo based copolymers 

    Tegegne, Newayemedhin (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Environmental friendliness, ease of fabrication, low cost and mechanical flexibility make organic solar cells a potential future of renewable energy sources. The structure of organic materials such as ...

  • A microscopic description of elastic scattering from unstable nuclei within a relativistic framework 

    Yahya, Wasiu Akanni (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: In this dissertation, a microscopic study of proton elastic scattering from unstable nuclei at intermediate energies using relativistic formalisms is presented. We have employed both the original ...

  • Bayesian parameter estimation for discrete data spectra 

    Wang, Li (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Discrete spectra are ubiquitous in physics; for example nuclear physics, laser physics and experimental high energy physics measure integer counts in the form of particles in dependence of angle, ...

  • Charge dynamics in hybrid and organic-inorganic light harvesting thin films followed with femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy 

    Minda, Iulia (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : In order to bridge the gap between traditional sources of electricity and the increasing global demand for it, as a society we must move towards renewable sources of energy such as solar radiation. ...

  • Noninvasive measurement of dynamic correlations in spin systems 

    Uhrich, Philipp Johann (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Dynamic correlations hψ| O1(t1)O2(t2)|ψi of quantum observables are useful quantities for the study of quantum dynamics. Attempts at measuring these correlations are however complicated, due to the ...

  • Studying the structural phase transition of organic Cu(DCNQI)2 with ultrafast electron diffraction 

    Payne, Nancy (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Organic molecular solids combine the richness of molecular and solid state physics. The structure and properties of organic solids can be modified to a great extent—for example, by utilising isotope ...

  • Field theory of reversible and active network formation 

    Pachong, Stanard Mebwe (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : This dissertation presents a statistical physics analysis of randomly cross-linked polymer networks with both reversible and permanent cross-links. The theory used here is adapted from the field theory ...

  • Driven nonequilibrium systems modeled with Markov processes 

    Nyawo, Pelerine Tsobgni (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : We study in this thesis the fluctuations of time-integrated functionals of Markov processes, which represent physical observables that can be measured in time for noisy systems driven in nonequilibrium ...

  • Spectroscopy of low lying states in 136Cs 

    Rebeiro, B.; Triambak, S.; Lindsay, R.; Adsley, P.; Burbadge, C.; Ball, G.; Bildstein, V.; Faestermann, T.; Garrett, P. E.; Hertenberger, R.; Radich, A.; Rand, E.; Varela, A.; Wirth, H.-F. (IOP Publishing, 2016)
    The low-lying excited states in 136Cs relevant to the double beta decay of 136Xe were studied via a 138Ba(d, α)136Cs transfer reaction with a high resolution magnetic spectrometer. Preliminary results from the experiment ...

  • Distorted-wave Born approximation study of the 11Li(p,t) 9Li reaction 

    Cowley, A. A. (IOP Publishing, 2016)
    The reaction 11Li(p,t) 9Li(gs) at an incident energy of 4 MeV is treated in terms of a simplistic distorted-wave Born approximation transfer. The halo neutrons involved in the reaction are treated as a di-neutron cluster ...

  • Diffusions conditioned on occupation measures 

    Angeletti, Florian; Touchette, Hugo (AIP, 2016-02)
    A Markov process fluctuating away from its typical behavior can be represented in the long-time limit by another Markov process, called the effective or driven process, having the same stationary states as the original ...

  • An overview of the first decade of PollyNET : an emerging network of automated Raman-polarization lidars for continuous aerosol profiling 

    Baars, Holger; Kanitz, Thomas; Engelmann, Ronny; Althausen, Dietrich; Heese, Birgit; Komppula, Mika; Preißler, Jana; Tesche, Matthias; Ansmann, Albert; Wandinger, Ulla; Lim, Jae-Hyun; Ahn, Joon Young; Stachlewska, Iwona S.; Amiridis, Vassilis; Marinou, Eleni; Seifert, Patric; Hofer, Julian; Skupin, Annett; Schneider, Florian; Bohlmann, Stephanie; Foth, Andreas; Bley, Sebastian; Pfüller, Anne; Giannakaki, Eleni; Lihavainen, Heikki; Viisanen, Yrjo; Hooda, Rakesh Kumar; Pereira, Sergio Nepomuceno; Bortoli, Daniele; Wagner, Frank; Mattis, Ina; Janicka, Lucja; Markowicz, Krzysztof M.; Achtert, Peggy; Artaxo, Paulo; Pauliquevis, Theotonio; Souza, Rodrigo A. F.; Sharma, Ved Prakesh; Van Zyl, Pieter Gideon; Beukes, Johan Paul; Sun, Junying; Rohwer, Erich G.; Deng, Ruru; Mamouri, Rodanthi-Elisavet; Zamorano, Felix (Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2016)
    The paper gives an overview of the observations on four continents and two research vessels obtained with eight Polly systems. The specific aerosol types at these locations (mineral dust, smoke, dust-smoke and other dusty ...

  • Laboratory X-ray micro-computed tomography : a user guideline for biological samples 

    Du Plessis, Anton; Broeckhoven, Chris; Guelpa, Anina; Le Roux, Stephan Gerhard (Oxford University Press, 2015)
    Laboratory X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) is a fast growing method in scientific research applications that allows for non-destructive imaging of morphological structures. This paper provides an easily operated ...

  • Computing the Arnold Tongue in the Zipoy-Voorhees Space-time 

    Sherif, Abbas Mohamed (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : In this thesis I study the integrability of the geodesic equations of the ZipoyVoorhees metric. The Zipoy-Voorhees spacetime is a one parameter family of Stationary Axisymmetric Vacuum spacetimes (SAV’s) ...

  • Methods for the radiological characterisation of the FiR 1 TRIGA research reactor decommissioning waste 

    Ackermann, Tarryn (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Every nuclear reactor will eventually reach the end of its life time. With more than 60 new power reactors currently under construction, the need for understanding the safe decommissioning of a nuclear ...

  • A near infrared femtosecond laser source for observation of charge transfer processes in semiconductors 

    Ahmed, Essraa Taha (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Near infrared femtosecond laser pulses were generated in the spectral range 900 - 2400 nm using the idler of a noncollinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA). The amplitude and phase of four exemplary ...

  • Supercontinuum pulse characterisation and compression 

    Viljoen, Ruan (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03)
    AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : In hierdie projek word die infrastruktuur van 'n hoë-resolusie nie-lineêre mikroskoop ontwikkel. Spesifiek word daar gekyk na generering van breëband lig deur middel van 'n fotoniese-kristalvesel ...

  • Fluorescence and self-absorption free excitation spectroscopy of carbon monoxide isotopomers in the vacuum ultraviolet 

    De Bruyn, Andre (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Carbon Monoxide (CO) is the most abundant heteronuclear diatomic molecule in the universe and has been of great interest in the fields of astrophysics and astronomy. CO is additionally, a prototype ...

  • Quantum corrections to the kink-antikink potential 

    Lee, Zander (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : In quantum field theory vacuum polarization effects may drastically alter the classical properties of non-perturbative field configurations. This is especially the case when comparing the vacuum ...

  • Control of CO2 vibrational dynamics via shaped-pulse coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy 

    Attie, Hendriks (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : In this work we investigate the coherent control of carbon dioxide (CO2) vibrational dynamics using Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS). During CARS, vibrational modes are excited via stimulated ...

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