We started work this summer on Tuesday, 1 June 2004.   We'll end on 6 August.  

Check out our log page.

Meet the Molbeamers:

Sara Fortman	Jimmy Randolph	John Nichol
fortman@stolaf.edu	randolpj@stolaf.edu	nicholj@stolaf.edu
Class of 2007 - Physics and Chemistry major	Class of 2006 - Physics and  Math major, Environmental Studies concentration	Class of 2006 - Physics and Math major

See pictures of our work this summer.

SUMMARIES

John:

    We made great progress this year!  Mike's work on Linefit from last summer came to fruition and wil pay off as it streamlines data analysis.   Years of work on RbCl, RbF, and LiI finally came together this summer and we nearly finished them off.  We even started investigation of KBr, an entirely new molecule for this group.   Although we have not submitted any papers to date, we yet may do so during the school year.  It looks like we yet again leave unfinished business.
      My work focused largely on fine-tuning Linefit and completing the analysis of the ⁶LiI spectrum.   To his credit, Mike designed a program easy to fix and to  maintain.  I used it exclusively near the end of the summer for fitting the convluted ⁶LiI data sets with great success and many hours saved.   The first results from specfit for LiI looked promising, but Dr. Cederberg noticed a strange shift in the leading term of the Iodine quadrupole expansion between Li isoptopes.   This molecular mystery awaits a solution.
      I enjoyed very much getting to know and work with Sara and Jimmy.  They learned nearly all there is to know about the molbeam in record time, and they  took like ducks in water to research.  I would like to thank them both and Dr. Cederberg for a summer of  frustrations, fun, and learning.

Jimmy:

    It's hard to believe that this summer is already over; it seems only yesterday that I was first learning the basics of the beam.  The amount of work we completed this summer was very impressive as we nearly finished analysis of four molecules.  A few more runs of KBr and RbCl and we might very well be ready to publish our results.  That is, if we can work out the last of the kinks (like the mysterious LiI shift that John mentions).  In any case, most everything is falling into place.  There's most definitely work left to be done, primarily on the RbBr.  We may have unfinished business, but we've certainly made considerable progress.
    For the first few weeks of the summer, most of my time was dedicated to learning the theory behind the molbeam.  In addition, I began acquiring programming skills and learned as much as I could about both C++ and MathCad.  During that time we decided to begin running KBr, and I took on the task of managing the acquisition and analysis of the data for that molecule.  At the same time I worked to finish organizing and analyzing the RbF data that was collected during previous summers.  It became quite a workload, especially given that I was working long days so I could go home and help on the farm weekends, but I'm glad I could contibute to the beam project.  I've learned so much and enjoyed every minute of my time here.
    My summer on the project would not have been nearly as enjoyable, however, had I not been able to work with John and Sara.  John's experience on the beam - this being his second summer - was invaluable both while I was learing the ropes and during the entire summer.  Because Sara and I were learning how to operate the beam and all the software associated with it at the same time, we could work through things together and bounce ideas off eachother.  And of course there is Dr. Cederberg who is always an inspiration; whenever I had a question, he had an answer and offered his guidance.  I would like to thank my colleagues and advisor for a great summer, and I look forward to studying and working with them again in the future.

Sara:

    Well I cannot believe the summer is over.  Somewhere in the last 10 weeks we accomplished a lot.  It was so exciting working toward the goal of completing the analysis of four molecules, and even though we never reached the finish line, it is in our sights.
    I spent most of my summer manipulating the RbCl data.  I spent a great deal of time going through all of the files and organizing the material in an easily accessible method.  I fit whatever line I could and re-fit the uncorporative ones.  I appreciated the new linefit program and eagerly learned to use it; anything to cut down on rewriting derivatives.  I spent the last half of the summer trying to bend specfit to my will, but was unsucessful, and am now waiting for a chance to rerun some troubling RbCl lines.  Interchanged with specfit, I did quite a lot of reading on the theory behind the molbeam, and on Rabi.  I have to admit, he was a pretty neat guy.
    The summer could not have gone so well without John to pester with little questions about working the software or Jimmy to explain all the nuances I never seemed to catch.  Of course, Dr. Cederberg was wonderful for explaining everything and recommending new  reading material.  Thanks guys for an awesome summer.