(no subject)

[meanfreepath]

Just got out of my first group meeting in the Manoharan lab... we took over the old faculty lounge in Lyman with the piano and old bound volumes of the Physical Review dating back to the 30's for a bit over an hour. Started to understand what the other experiments in the group are doing... one in particular looked very interesting, and I may describe some of this stuff in a non-public post some other time.

Yesterday I was given the mission of trying to buy a diode laser for use in a dynamic light scattering (DLS) apparatus. Consequently, I will be trying to learn both about diode lasers, and about DLS. Hence the paper with the Keats reference.

Vinny requested a volunteer to be the lab's representative to the DEAS Safety Committee, and I volunteered. I'll get to go and do lab inspections, and hopefully be able to put some of my HAZMAT training to practical use.

Comments

[sildra.livejournal.com]

Yesterday I was given the mission of trying to buy a diode laser for use in a dynamic light scattering (DLS) apparatus.

Ha! Good luck with that! Did they give you suggestions of companies to look at? I'd be curious to exchange notes. Our impression is all laser diode companies suck; all the worst lasers in our lab were bought, and all the best were built by grad students. Even if you need high amounts of power, there are homemade work-arounds that I could point you to that are cheaper than a store-bought high-powered diode laser.

[sildra.livejournal.com]

Err... all diode laser companies suck. Some of the laser diode companies that just sell diodes are ok.