Steven Shook, physics/audio engineering technology double major, created a video showing results for an ongoing laser-based acoustics experiment to visualize oscillation modes of musical instruments via the electronic speckle pattern interferometry methods. Shook’s research was completed as part of Belmont’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program.
Originating with former Belmont Professor of Physics Dr. Christian Thomas, this experiment has been continued by students under the direction of physics faculty members Drs. Robert Magruder and Davon Ferrara.
In the video, the laser illuminates the shapes of resonances of a metal plate for various frequencies. It is a “first light” result given the Janet Ayers Academic Center’s new laboratory set-up and uses new software written by Shook and his research advisor Dr. Scott Hawley, physics. Efforts are currently underway to improve image quality via both image-processing and optical techniques.
