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We started work this summer on Tuesday, May 30. For a progress report, see
our update
page.
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| Class of 2001- physics and math major | Class of 2001- physics major | Class of 2001- physics major | Class of 2001- physics and math major |
I am really glad that I had this opportunity to work on the molecular beam research team this past summer. It was a very helpful learning experience. In addition to the specific projects, just being in a research environment was educational. The research presentaions were interesting because I was able to find out what was going on in other areas of science. With this it was possible to recieve a broad idea of what the average research project is like.
Working on the beam allows for a wide variety of experiences. Some of these are mechanical, theoretical, computer related and learning basic knowledge. If you get bored with something you can always find something different that needs to be done. One of my favorites was doing mechanical work on the beam. When we started there was plenty of that because we had to take apart and clean the whole source, which had filled with water. Another thing that I did was to prepare the salt that we were working on, 6LiI. This needed to be made from 6LiOH so it required some chemistry,in fact the best kind, mixing strong acids and bases together. It was nice to do some work in another discipline and stressed the importance of a broad background. After a couple of weeks and plenty of practice we finally had the desired product. I also spent much of my time working with the Mathcad fitting program. It took plenty of time to figure out the details of that but also was instumental in understanding the physics theory behind the work we were doing. In addition to that I helped with the general work of collecting data, loading the source, doing fits, giving presentaions, and playing with liquid nitrogen. The poster presentation Trisha and I did at the end of the summer turned out well. It was good to share what we had done. In some down time I was able to start the book The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes, a very interesting book that gives a historical account to the birth of modern physics leading up to the atomic bomb. Lots of good stuff on where all this quantum stuff came from.
I have to say that I had a good time working on the Beam project this summer. I learned quite a bit. A task, considering when I started I knew almost nothing. It was all in all a good experience for me and hopefully will be helpful in deciding what I eventually want to do long term.
Thanks- JASONThe past summer has been a wonderful introduction to working in a lab, researching, and a little quantum physics. When I arrived here this past June I had only been back in the US for a couple of days (I spent last semester studying in the Kansai region of Japan) so I was a little disoriented. Prof. Cederberg, Jess , Garrett, and Jason brought me up to speed, and introduced me to the beam. One of the most important things I learned from working in the lab this summer was the importance of creativity. Unlike labs that I have had in science courses her at St. Olaf, this project didn’t have a distinct beginning, formula and a conclusion. Part of our summer goal became determining whether or not there was a hexadecapole interaction in the 6LiI. But so far we have not been able to determine this. It seemed rather straightforward at the beginning of the summer but many problems popped up and solutions were needed before we were able to take data or even analyze it. That is where creativity comes in. I was impressed by the ingenuity and creativity of my peers and the professors working on this research project. It was great to see how everyone had slightly different perspectives and suggested different solutions to all things we encountered this summer.
I learned a lot this summer. The first lesson- trial and error. The first attempts to running scans on KI were sort of a flop so we then moved to KF which was an another flop. Everything picked up when we started 6LiI and Jason and I,the newcomers, finally got to see a legitimate resonance peak. It was a pretty exciting day to find out that the beam really did work. In doing research this summer, I learned what is really happening inside our beam, a little bit of the quantum behind it, some computer programming, web design with HTML, and a lot more about the lives of my fellow beamers! (Thanks to those morning gossip sessions!) I focused most of my work this summer on collecting and analyzing our data. I started by running predictions on the specpred -mathcad program and then worked with Jess to run the desired scans. After this I worked on fitting our data and finding the appropriate RF factors. I also helped load the source, and examined our quadrupole lenses and the diffusion pumps. In spare time, I learned a little more about the history of the beam by reading the biography of I. I. Rabi written by John S. Rigden. Also another important aspect of this summer was participating in the summer research symposium. We gave a presentation on our goals at the beginning of the summer and Jason and I did a poster presentation at the end describing the events and achievements of the summer. Overall, it was a fabulous experience and since Jason and I didn't put our acknowledgments on the poster we presented I would like to thank Prof. Cederberg, Prof. Olson, Prof. Nitz, Jason, Garrett, Jess and NSF for making this experience possible.
Ahhh...another exciting summer of research comes to a close. Overall, I
think the summer was a complete success. We started out on a slow and
rocky road; the first two weeks were filled with a lot of unsuccessful
attempts at data taking. We (Garrett and I) were hoping to show our new
beam team members just how much we knew from last summer. Unfortunately,
there was a detector problem and scan after scan on KI yielded nothing.
Discouraged, we moved on to KF, a molecule that had been worked on by a
previous group. (By replicating the conditions for data that had already
been taken, we would be able to figure out what, if anything, was wrong
with the beam.) With the start of this portion of the project we finally
discovered the detector problem, fixed it, and got our first set of good
data. Such is life in experimental physics. At that point we all breathed
a HUGE sigh of relief and continued to take scans on KF. This gave us a
chance to break in Trish and Jason on the ins and outs of running the beam
and analyzing data.
After awhile, we came to a point in
the project where we needed to make a
decision -- did we want to continue and possibly finish KF? go back and do
KI? or jump into the (piano chords, bah bah bum) search for evidence of
the hexadecapole interaction in LiI? Obviously we chose the more dramatic
and exciting LiI project! We sent Garrett and Jason upstairs to make our
6LiI from 6LiOH, and A WEEK LATER we had 6LiI and were ready to start. We
started scans of 6LiI on the 3rd of July -- what a fun day that was! Scan
taking continued for a couple weeks. Trish and I then started in on the
major data analysis part of things. We had taken multiple scans of almost
every line, so our first job was to record each of the individuals and
find a basic average for each line frequency. These were compiled into a
new file that was fit to our existing frequency predictions. After that,
we started going through each set of files for a given line to figure out
the RF factor and make the frequencies in each file match. We didn't get
this process finished -- we were about half way through. This needs to be
finished before we can get any information about the hexadecapole
interaction.
All-in-all I had a great summer. Not
only did the beam team manage to get
a lot of good physics done, but we had fun! On our lunch we were able to
keep up on our two favorite daytime soaps, Days and Passions; we had a
blast on our annual canoe trip; we had daily chat sessions; we had a
physics lab dance party or two; RESEARCH IS SO MUCH FUN!
Jason and I then began our work to
produce Li6I from Li6OH and hydroiodic acid. Things initially appeared to
not behave, as they should. For some reason once the reaction was
complete we had a very acidic solution for something that should have been
quite neutral. After a week of sheer grit and determination we were able
to produce Li6I that soon brought us many lines of resonance. The
experience taught me that yes, Physicists can also be Chemists!
Later on in the summer I resumed my
project started from the last summer to develop a automated computer
control system for our vacuum pumps. The last couple of weeks have given
me some insight into circuit design. A relay box that could communicate
with a computer needed to be built and debugged. I also had to try and
debug the thermocouple circuitry built from the previous summer. So, I
got additional practice in circuit troubleshooting. It's like two for the
price of one. By the end of the summer the control system was almost
complete. There are a few details that still need to be addressed in the
programming, but for the most part the hardware is in place. I am anxious
to see everything in place and working!
The summer has been a lot of fun
working with fellow beamers, Jess Trisha, and Jason. On one hand we have
gotten the chance to study a lot of physics, and on the other, Jason and I
have learned that we better stay off the Cannon River. Although the quest
for the hexadecapole interaction in Li6I is not complete, the Beam Team
2000 has made great headway to uncovering Nature's mystery.
Thanks! -Jess
Garrett
I think this has been one of the fastest 10 weeks ever. The summer
started with some trouble in that water and a vacuum system are never a
good combination. Once the chamber was cleaned out things seemed normal
once again, but not quite. Our first Runs of KF did not bring us a
resonance. After a week scouting we were forced to give up and change to
Li7I. The lithium once again brought a resonance to our delightful eyes.
Thanks- Garrett