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Todd B. Smith

Associate Professor

Full-Time Faculty

College of Arts and Sciences: Physics

Contact

Email: Todd B. Smith
Phone: 937-229-2435
SC
Website: Visit Site

Degrees

  • Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1997

Profile

Dr. Smith joined the faculty of the physics department in 2001. Between receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1997 and coming to the University of Dayton, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a research scientist for Indiana University working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Dr. Smith also teaches courses for the Premedical Programs.

Faculty perspective

"The University of Dayton is an exceptional university in that it provides both a high quality, well-rounded, undergraduate education and graduate-level research opportunities for the undergraduate student. As a professor at the University of Dayton, I am able to pursue a rewarding career of physics teaching and research. From teaching conceptual physics to humanities majors to quantum mechanics to physics majors, I am able to help students gain a better understanding of our Universe. The University of Dayton actively supports my efforts to constantly improve my teaching, enabling me to provide the highest quality education possible.

Likewise, the University of Dayton has the funds and facilities to enable me to pursue my research interests in a number of different areas. Currently, I am working on a nuclear parity violation experiment at Los Alamos National Laboratory in collaboration with a group of about 30 scientists from universities and national laboratories from across the world. The NPDGamma experiment seeks to measure the parity-violating asymmetry in polarized neutron capture on hydrogen, giving insight into the weak interaction. My efforts into this experiment are many, but are primarily concentrated on a nuclear spin polarized gaseous 3He cell to be used as a nuclear spin filter on the neutron beam.

On campus, and in conjunction with the Center for Material Diagnostics at the University of Dayton Research Institute, I am also working to set up an NSOMS spectroscopy device for use in characterizing condensed matter materials and structures such as photonic crystals, polymer waveguides, and surface emitting lasers. This work is being performed in collaboration with members of the electro-optics program and their research into nanotechnology.

Both of these fields of interest have opportunities for student involvement at both the undergraduate and graduate level."

Research interests

  • Nano-spectroscopy
  • Laser narrowing
  • Spin-exchange optical pumping
  • Nuclear parity violation

Selected publications

D. R. Rich, T. R. Gentile, T. B. Smith, A. K. Thompson, and G. L. Jones, Spin Exchange Optical Pumping at Pressures near 1 Bar for Neutron Spin Filters, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 80, no. 12, pp. 2210-2212, 2002.

The NPDGamma Collaboration, (W. M. Snow et al.), Measurements of the Parity Violating Asymmetry A(gamma) in n + p -> D + gamma, Nucl. Inst. Meth. in Phys. Rev. A 440, pp. 729-735, 2000.

T. B. Smith, T. E. Chupp, K. P. Coulter, and R. C. Welsh, Recent Advances in Spin Exchange Pumped Polarized 3 He Target Technology, Nucl. Inst. Meth. in Phys. Rev. A 402, pp. 247-249, 1998.