HQA
RESEARCH
INTRODUCTION
I worked with Professor Frumkin's lab investigating hydrodynamic quantum analogs. The setup involved tracking emission rates from a vibrating oil bath sitting above a fluid layer. There was an external wave generator at varying distances, and the goal was to measure how the emission rate changed with distance. The theory predicted an oscillating pattern. As the generator moved closer, its waves would either reinforce or interfere with the original vibration, and the emission rate should oscillate like a sine graph.
ENGINEERING WORK
Constructed the rig using T-bar aluminum framing. The oil bath container was 3d printed on the Phrozen SLA resin printers and contained a 5mm hole in the center to allow drop emissions. Designed and 3D printed an LED light mount positioned at the exact height and angle to backlight droplets. Even small angle changes caused droplets not to be seen or for the lips of waves not to be seen.
Coded a droplet detection algorithm in Python that tracks blobs across video frames without double-counting emissions. The challenge was motion blur across multiple frames, so the algorithm had to identify unique events rather than just count pixels. Getting the threshold sensitivity right took a lot of trial and error to separate real emissions from noise.
