Artwork By: Dennis Doyle and Pearl Galido
Dennis Doyle is a current junior at the University of Pittsburgh with dual majors in studio arts and chemistry. Doyle searches for the meaning behind the connections and tensions between diverse disciplines. Through research and artwork, he engages these connections and concepts of identity, science, and history to drive dialogue around contemporary issues. This past term, he was honored to collaborate with Pearl Galido and the Dutt group to respond to condensed matter research through artwork. Doyle hopes to continue blurring the lines between science, art, and other disciplines as he continues with his studies next year.
Pearl Galido is a senior at the University of Pittsburgh, double-majoring in studio art and chemistry. She has always been interested in the relationship between how the world functions on the atomic level and how we experience the world on a macroscopic level. This curiosity motivates her to explore the intersection of art and science, and to produce work informed by these discoveries. This past term, Galido collaborated with Dennis Doyle and the Dutt Group to produce artwork based on diamond nanoparticle research. After graduation, she plans to take a gap year before pursuing a degree in medicine.
The Dutt Group focuses on the quantum control of condensed matter systems. In the field of quantum information and technology, quantum mechanical systems offer new insights into measurements and computation. In the lab, the group focuses on nitrogen vacancy or NV centers in diamonds. The quantum response of these point defects contains valuable information about the particle and its surrounding environment. In order to study these NV centers, extensive work goes into trapping a diamond nanoparticle, searching for an NV center, and quantifying its response. This search for the quantum response forms the foundation for the direction of the group’s research.
For this project, Doyle and Galido draw inspiration from the resonant frequency used to detect an NV center. Conceptually, resonance represents clarity and harmony between two wavelengths. They translated this search for resonance through print work and sound. The print consists of layered, periodic NV center imagery, some clear and some faded. The boldest prints represent the moment of clarity found through resonance. The sound installation simulates an auditory form of resonance. Clear tones amongst the white noise represent resonance found by scanning through a range of frequencies.
