Meet another of our wonderful seniors in our final Senior Spotlight celebrating the class of ’23! Katha (she/her) is a physics major and English minor from New Delhi, India. Her thesis focuses on optics and is about restoring and updating the Reed Rubidium Magneto-Optical Trap. A magneto-optical trap is a type of atom trap that utilizes laser cooling and a position varying magnetic field to cool atoms to temperatures as low as a few microkelvin. The trap in the Reed physics department is specifically designed to cool atoms of rubidium. Katha's work on this project involved reviving the trap, as it had not been touched or run successfully in decades. This required a lot of optical alignment, laser tuning, and—most of all—support from her thesis adviser, Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics Eryn Cook! In addition to pursuing a degree in physics, Katha has spent a lot of time taking medieval literature and creative writing classes. She has also worked as a lab teaching assistant a...