Ryland Wala

Hi! I am Ryland. I am currently a  seventh year PhD candidate in Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona and I am expecting to graduate between May and July of this year. I got my bachelor's in physics at Arizona State University in 2019 (Go Devil's! ??  🔱).

I am currently working along side Dr. R. Jason Jones and Dr. Mark C. Phillips conducting Dual-Comb Spectroscopy (DCS), Tunable Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (LAS), and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) experiments on Laser Produced Plasmas (LPPs).   

We are interested in LPPs because they serve as good surrogates for extreme environments such as stellar explosions, conventional fireballs, nuclear detonations, and  reactor accidents. Additionally, LPPs allow for rapid isotopic identification  of solid materials which is traditionally challenging. Emission spectroscopy of LPPs (LIBS) serves as a solid technique for measuring early times in the laser plasma where the temperatures are hot, spectral lines are broad, and emission is strong. Absorption spectroscopic techniques such as DCS and LAS serve as powerful high-resolution tools for measuring later times in the plasma where spectral lines narrow and quantitative information (column densities) is easier to obtain.