Speaker
Description
2025 has been designated as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ). I have developed a set of simple outreach activities that involve applications of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and spectrum analysis using simple diffraction grating viewers. Students and outreach audiences often marvel at the rich details that emerge from ‘normal’ sources of light: the wavelengths present in spectra reveal the underlying regularity imposes by QM on the electronic structure of atoms and the corresponding emission spectra. Spectrum studies of the Sun motivated Dr. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin to propose in 1925 that the Sun was comprised mainly of Hydrogen and Helium, and later to map the various paths of stellar evolution. In a much cooler regime LEDs have become ubiquitous as efficient lighting sources whose color range can be easily controlled. I plan to tie together the concepts tied to the IYQ with these two activities during my talk.
