Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Physics) by Title
Now showing items 37-56 of 82
-
Mass spectrometry characterisation of laser produced products.
(1999)Mass spectrometers are analytical instruments that convert neutral atoms and molecules into gaseous ions and separate those ions according to the ratio of their mass to charge, m/z. The measurement is reported as a ... -
The measurement of electric quadrupole moments of gas molecules by induced birefringence.
(1993)Determining the electric quadrupole moments of gas molecules from measurements of birefringence induced in the gas by an applied electric field gradient is widely recognised as being the most direct experimental technique ... -
Measurement of the temperature dependence of the Buckingham effect (electric-field-gradient-induced birefringence) in gases
(2009)The aim of this research project was to assemble an apparatus to measure the electric quadrupole moments of gas molecules using the technique of electricfield- gradient-induced birefringence, or the Buckingham effect. ... -
The morphology of radiation damage in copper irradiated with neutrons at elevated temperatures.
(1977)This thesis is an investigation of the radiation damage morphology of high purity copper crystals irradiated with fast neutrons at temperatures in the range of 250C to 4OO C. At these high temperatures neutron damage ... -
Multi-wavelength study of radio sources in the universe.
(2009)This thesis presents a detailed multi-wavelength study of radio sources. A major part of the thesis focuses on radio sources in the FIRST survey while the latter part of the thesis studies low redshift radio galaxies in ... -
Non-linear multivariate analysis of the global solar radiation received across five cities in South Africa.
(2019)South Africa is considered one of the most developed countries in Africa, however with more than 80% of its electricity being generated from coal, this country is considered one of the highest contributors to greenhouse ... -
Numerical cavity-resonance modelling of impulse excited Pi 2 pulsations in the magnetosphere.
(1993)A magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) cavity-resonance model is developed to study the ultra low frequency (ULF) response in the magnetosphere to an external compressional impulse. It is assumed that the magnitude of the impulse is ... -
Numerical simulation of quantum spins in a dissipative environment.
(2015)When modelling real physical systems, one should always consider the influence of the environment. The study of open quantum systems aims precisely at the assessment of the role of the environment in the evolution of ... -
On the interaction of laser beams with air : with specific reference to refraction and scattering.
(1996)The interaction of laser light with a parcel of air with a known density structure can result in one of three reactions. The simplest of these reactions is reflection. Depending on the nature of the density profile, that ... -
Optimizing quantum communication through hybrid technology.
(2012)Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is a symmetric key sharing protocol. The theoretical process exploits the principles of quantum physics to underpin a physical security against any form of eavesdropping. QKD not only ensures ... -
Optimizing the synthesis of vanadium oxide nano-structures by plasma plume dynamics.
(2016)Abstract available in PDF file. -
Photothermal refraction and focusing.
(1997)This thesis begins with an introduction to the interaction and refraction of light in continuous media. It is shown how these properties can be exploited to achieve focusing of parallel light rays in such a medium. Past ... -
Planetary waves and the global ozone distribution.
(1994)Planetary waves are known to play an important role in determining the annual variability in the severity of Antarctic ozone depletion. In this thesis, data obtained from the TOMS experiment on board the Nimbus-7 satellite ... -
Probing the conceptions and mental models of students from diverse educational backgrounds in the context of a science centre show on sound.
(2016)Abstract available in PDF file. -
Quantum analogues of classical optimization algorithms.
(2017)This thesis explores the quantum analogues of algorithms used in mathematical optimization. The thesis focuses primarily on the iterative gradient search algorithm (algorithm for finding the minimum or maximum of a ... -
Quantum machine learning for supervised pattern recognition.
(2017)Humans are experts at recognising patterns in past experience and applying them to new tasks. For example, after seeing pictures of a face we can usually tell if another image contains the same person or not. Machine ... -
Quantum simulation of open quantum systems.
(2016)Over the last two decades the field of quantum simulations has experienced incredible growth, which, coupled with progress in the development of controllable quantum platforms, has recently begun to allow for the ... -
A ray tracing study of VLF phenomena.
(1997)Whistlers have, for many years, been used as probes of the ionosphere and magnetosphere. Whistlers received on the ground have been shown (Smith [1961], Helliwell [1965]) to have propagated, in almost all cases, through ... -
Refractive effects in phase objects and associated phenomena.
(1994)The effect of the refraction of a laser beam propagating through three different phase objects, i.e. a laser produced plasma and two different gas media, is investigated in this thesis. It is shown that these effects ...