Upcoming Seminars

The Physics Department Seminars are at noon in the Ric Bradley Seminar Room (Barnes Science Building 213) unless otherwise specified. 

Lunch is provided before the seminar begins.

Please always RSVP to Kate Carlton 719-389-6577 or Kate.Carlton@ColoradoCollege.edu

Seminars:

September 13

Marty Baylor, a physicist from Carleton College, will talk about her work the cocktail party problem.   

A Dynamical System Approach to the Cocktail Party Problem or Using Optics Instead of Your Brain to Separate Mixed Signals

Have you ever been at a noisy party and been able to pick out what the person in front of you is saying? If so, then you are intimately aware of the fact that your brain is able to solve the cocktail party problem. How does your brain separate one signal from a mixture of signals? I have no idea, but I have been working with a half optical, half electronic system that is able to mimic that behavior. The system uses a special holographic crystal in a feedback loop to solve the cocktail party problem without any a priori information about the unmixed signals or how they are mixed together. By analyzing the dynamics of the feedback loop, we have discovered that under certain conditions the feedback loop likes to separate signals.  I invite you to come and find out about this truly fascinating system and hear some of the audio demos demonstrating its signal-separating prowess. I will also briefly discuss my efforts to miniaturize useful optical systems like this using light-sensitive polymers so that they can be used in everyday life.