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The Light Dark Matter eXperiment (LDMX) is an electron beam fixed-target experiment designed to probe dark matter candidates with masses below the GeV scale, which remains largely unexplored. The trigger scintillator is the detector subsystem mainly responsible for estimating the number of electrons per bunch in the beamline. The current geometry cannot distinguish electrons nearly aligned along t

Remote epitaxy of β-Ga2O3 on graphene-covered SiC substrates offers a potential solution to the poor thermal conductivity that limits this ultra-wide bandgap material. To achieve this, the growth of β-Ga2O3 by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) was optimised first on bare 4H-SiC substrates and subsequently transferred to graphene-covered SiC. The growth parameters were selected to maximise both the cry

β-Ga2O3 (β-gallium oxide) is an ultra-wide band gap semiconductor material that has attracted significant interest for next-generation high-efficiency and high-power electronic devices. This thesis focuses on the optimisation of the growth of gallium oxide thin films on 1.0 cm x 1.0 cm silicon carbide (4H-SiC) using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). A growth matrix in substrate temperature and oxyge

This thesis investigates the synthesis of advanced carbon materials and clean hydrogen via non-thermal, plasma-assisted pyrolysis of hydrocarbons, offering a sustainable alternative to conventional thermal methods. The study aims to characterize the complex relationship between reactor process parameters, local plasma conditions, and the resulting solid carbon morphology. Experimentally, alternati

A lot of research involves spectral or polarimetric imaging in applications such as medicine, material science, and molecular science. Spectral imaging allows the acquisition of multiple spectral bands of a scene, while polarimetric imaging enables the extraction of a scene's polarisation. Combining the two imaging techniques simultaneously is referred to as multiparametric imaging. Today, onl

Greenhouse gases and light-absorbing particles in the atmosphere, including soot, play a key role in climate change. To understand the effect such small particles have on the climate, we first need to understand how they form and how they behave. Soot particles are produced from incomplete combustion processes of hydrocarbons, forming a mixture of graphitic and amorphous structures instead of carb

Dark matter remains a largely elusive phenomenon, particularly its composition. Several candidate particles have been proposed, including axions and axion-like particles (ALPs). Detection of axions and ALPs have been attempted but none so far have yielded positive results. The High Intensity Baryon Extraction and Measurement instrument (HIBEAM) at the European Spallation Source (ESS) will be used

At Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) GP-SANS beamline is located, an experiment searching for the neutron Transition Magnetic Moment (nTMM) was conducted. This experiment is dependent on the magnetic field homogeneity and requires a magnetic field scanning precision of at least 4 μT. A previous experiment performed at the same facility used powerful m

The aim of this work is to investigate how a quantised photon cavity modifies the spin dynamics of a two-site spin-electron dimer with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The cavity couples to inter-site hopping through the Peierls substitution. Dissipation is included via the Lindblad master equation. Three numerical methods were tested to see which would be best suited for the time evolution of the syst

14C is a radioactive nuclide which is produced in moderator water in nuclear power plants and small amounts are emitted in both gas and liquid forms. Currently, at Ringhals nuclear power plant (NPP) the liquid emissions of 14C are not being monitored since the methods required are difficult and expensive, and the amount of discharges have so far been considered to be minor. However, increased leve

This thesis compares the charging capacity of a reciprocal and a nonreciprocal quantum battery in the steady state. The model consists of two qubits functioning as a charger and a battery, where the charger is subjected to a linear driving field and the two qubits are linked via a coherent coupling. Both subsystems are coupled to separate dissipative environments, with an additional joint environm

In the 1980's the process of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) was discovered. It was later shown that HHG produces attosecond pulse trains (APTs), with 1 as = 10^(-18) s, using a photoelectron interferometric technique called reconstruction of attosecond beating by interference of two-photon transitions (RABBIT). RABBIT uses a combination of an APT, which ionizes a gas, and an infrared (IR

This dissertation investigates the reliability boundaries of optical photothermal infrared spectroscopy (O-PTIR) for semi-quantitative β-sheet analysis and its application to the detection of Parkinson’s disease (PD)-related skin biomarkers. The work is divided into two sub-projects. Sub-project I used atomic force microscopy–infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR) as a reference technique to systematical

Atmospheric particles play a significant role in radiative forcing through light scattering and new methods are called for to better characterize their impact. Typical Lidar systems emit single wavelength light, not utilizing full spectral information from scattering measurements. This thesis aims to use a hyperspectral lidar system to measure the spectral dependence of scattering and absorption

Bunch compression is necessary for many accelerator applications, one of which being the creation of muons for the proposed muon collider. The design of a proton driver to deliver a short and very intense proton pulse to a target for the creation of muons is being developed as part of the International Muon Collider Collaboration. Some challenges with the proposed baseline design, notably the ambi

GASMAS, which stands for Gas in Scattering Media Absorption spectroscopy, is an optical technique for measuring the gas content in porous scattering media. It has shown promise for application in monitoring the gas content of lungs in a non-invasive or minimally invasive way. Monitoring changes in the quantity of oxygen and water vapor in lungs can help to quickly diagnose lung collapse conditions

To probe the unsolved intersection between quantum mechanics and general relativity, this thesis theoretically investigates and attempts to further develop an experiment designed to detect quantum gravity signatures via a rare-earth-ion doped microresonator. Leading theories on quantum gravity predict deformations to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which would affect the dynamics of the reso

The exceptional breakdown field and ultra-wide bandgap of beta-gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) position it as a promising material for next-generation high-power electronics. This thesis systematically investigates the growth behaviour, structural quality, and surface morphology of β-Ga2O3 thin films deposited via Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) on both c-plane sapphire (Al2O3) and MOCVD-grown GaN-on-sapphi