Interdisciplinary research has emerged as a prominent trend in tandem with technological advancements, rendering it an inevitable aspect of 21st-century scholarship. In light of this trend, the present study strives to amalgamate electroacoustic music and dance within the framework of the composition titled “Growth.” This research delineates five primary inquiries and corresponding objectives: 1) Does the inclusion of dance foster novel cognitive processes or creative methodologies? 2) Does the combination of music and dance inspire a cohesive artistic experience? 3) What methodologies are effective for directing dancers? 4) What are the distinct concerns inherent in music and dance? 5) How can strategies for negotiation and compromise be effectively employed amid discord? These questions and objectives are addressed through a brief review of pertinent literature, elucidation of methodology, and comprehensive analysis. Furthermore, this study advocates for enhanced video documentation of music-dance collaborations to foster future research pursuits by musicians, dancers, composers, and choreographers, thereby illuminating new possibilities for interdisciplinary exploration and innovation.

Optical-field ionization (OFI) is often used to produce plasmas for myriad laboratory applications. In this thesis, the electron velocity distribution functions of OFI helium plasmas are shown to be controlled by changing the wavelength and polarization of a sub 100 fs pump laser and ionization state of the plasma. Thomson scattering is used to measure the distinct electron velocity distributions of helium plasmas produced by linearly and circularly polarized laser pulses within a few inverse plasma periods after the plasma formation. In both cases, nonthermal and highly anisotropic initial electron velocity distributions (EVD) are observed that are consistent with expectations from OFI of both He electrons.Such OFI plasmas are used to study two important problems in plasma physics. First we show that the ability to initialize the EVD of electrons allows kinetic plasma instabilities to be studied in the laboratory. Second we carry out a comprehensive study of transfer of spin and orbital angular momentum in the process of second harmonic generation. We show that following the ionization but before collisions thermalize the electrons, the OFI plasma undergoes two-stream, filamentation, and Weibel instabilities that isotropize the electron distributions. The polarization-dependent frequency and growth rates of these kinetic instabilities, measured using Thomson scattering of a probe laser, agree well with the kinetic theory and simulations. Thus, we have demonstrated an easily deployable laboratory platform for studying kinetic instabilities in plasmas. The source and the angular momentum properties of the second harmonic beams generated from underdense OFI plasmas are studied. When laser beams with angular momentum interact with plasmas, one can observe the interplay between the spin and the orbital angular momentum. Here, by measuring the helical phase of the second harmonic 2ω radiation generated in an underdense plasma using a known spin and orbital angular momentum pump beam, we verify that the total angular momentum of photons is conserved in the generation of 2ω photons and observe the conversion of spin to orbital angular momentum. We further determine the source of the 2ω light by analyzing near field intensity distributions of the 2ω light. The 2ω images are consistent with these photons being generated near the largest intensity gradients of the pump beam in the plasma as predicted by the combined effect of spin and orbital angular momentum when Laguerre-Gaussian beams are used.