Better devices are needed for the detection of aerosolized biological warfare agents. Advances in the ongoing development of one such device, the BioAerosol Mass Spectrometry (BAMS) system, are described here in detail. The system samples individual, micrometer-sized particles directly from the air and analyzes them in real-time without sample preparation or use of reagents. At the core of the BAMS system is a dual-polarity, single-particle mass spectrometer with a laser based desorption and ionization (DI) system. The mass spectra produced by early proof-of-concept instruments were highly variable and contained limited information to differentiate certain types of similar biological particles. The investigation of this variability and subsequent changes to the DI laser system are described. The modifications have reduced the observed variability and thereby increased the usable information content in the spectra. These improvements would have little value without software to analyze and identify the mass spectra. Important improvements have been made to the algorithms that initially processed and analyzed the data. Single particles can be identified with an impressive level of accuracy, but to obtain significant reductions in the overall false alarm rate of the BAMS instrument, alarm decisions must be made dynamically on the basis of multiple analyzed particles. …

The goal of this dissertation is twofold. The first part concerns the development of a numerical method for solving Maxwell's equations on unstructured hexahedral grids that employs both high order spatial and high order temporal discretizations. The second part involves the use of this method as a computational tool to perform high fidelity simulations of various electromagnetic devices such as optical transmission lines and photonic crystal structures to yield a level of accuracy that has previously been computationally cost prohibitive. This work is based on the initial research of Daniel White who developed a provably stable, charge and energy conserving method for solving Maxwell's equations in the time domain that is second order accurate in both space and time. The research presented here has involved the generalization of this procedure to higher order methods. High order methods are capable of yielding far more accurate numerical results for certain problems when compared to corresponding h-refined first order methods , and often times at a significant reduction in total computational cost. The first half of this dissertation presents the method as well as the necessary mathematics required for its derivation. The second half addresses the implementation of the method in a parallel …

A measurement of the t{bar t} production cross section in the lepton+jets channels with the D0 detector at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV using the lifetime-tagging techniques is presented. The t{bar t} cross section is estimated from the combination of the e+jets and {mu}+jets channels. The obtained result {sigma}{sub t{bar t}} = 7.47{sub -1.14}{sup +1.22}(stat){sub -1.03}{sup +1.65}(syst) {+-} 0.49(lumi) pb is consistent with the Standard Model expectation.

The author presents a search for excited or exotic electrons decaying to an electron and a photon with high transverse momentum. An oppositely charged electron is produced in association with the excited electron, yielding a final state dielectron + photon signature. The discovery of excited electrons would be a first indication of lepton compositeness. They use {approx} 202 pb{sup -1} of data collected in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV with the Collider Detector at Fermilab during March 2001 through September 2003. The data are consistent with standard model expectations. Upper limits are set on the experimental cross-section {sigma}({bar p}p {yields} ee* {yields} ee{gamma}) at the 95% confidence level in a contact-interaction model and a gauge-mediated interaction model. Limits are also presented as exclusion regions in the parameter space of the excited electron mass (M{sub e*}) and the compositeness energy scale ({Lambda}). In the contact-interaction model, for which there are no previously published limits, they find M{sub e*} < 906 GeV is excluded for M{sub e*} = {Lambda}. In the gauge-mediated model, the exclusion region in the M{sub e*} versus the phenomenological coupling f/{Lambda} parameter space is extended to M{sub e*} < 430 GeV for f/{Lambda} {approx} 10{sup …

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The availability of high power, spectrally and spatially coherent soft x-rays (SXR) would facilitate a wide variety of experiments as this energy region covers the primary resonances of many magnetic and biological materials. Specifically, there are the carbon and oxygen K-edges that are critical for biological imaging in the water window and the L-edges of iron, nickel, and cobalt for which imaging and scattering studies can be performed. A new coherent soft X-ray branchline at the Advanced Light Source has begun operation (beamline 12.0.2). Using the third harmonic from an 8 cm period undulator, this branch delivers coherent soft x-rays with photon energies ranging from 200eV to 1keV. This branchline is composed of two sub-branches one at 14X demagnification and the other 8X demagnification. The former is optimized for use at 500eV and the latter at 800eV. Here the expected power from the third harmonic of this undulator and the beamline design and characterization is presented. The characterization includes measurements on available photon flux as well as a series of double pinhole experiments to determine the coherence factor with respect to transverse distance. The first high quality Airy patterns at SXR wavelengths are created with this new beamline. The operation …