Quick Shot

Undergraduate Research Assistant Jeremy Hassett is shown with a software application he wrote to aid engineers and scientists at LLE with diffraction-grating system design and analysis. The software application is capable of calculating the diffracted efficiencies for plane-reflectance gratings, such as the one shown inside the spectrometer on the right. The core of the software is a sophisticated numerical algorithm for calculating theoretical diffraction efficiencies based on the groove shape, wavelength of light, incident angle, and many other parameters. The overall goal of the project is to allow engineers and scientists to accurately characterize the diffracted efficiencies of gratings in similar setups to those used throughout the laboratory. While a student at the University, Jeremy presented two award-winning posters—one at an undergraduate symposium and the other at the Omega Laser Facility Users Group workshop.