And here's what we got up to after the interviewer had gone... (click the picture to see a bigger version)
(SAXS = small angle X-ray scattering)
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Being (in)famous
Here's the link to the SLAC Today article featuring yours truly.
And here's what we got up to after the interviewer had gone... (click the picture to see a bigger version)
(SAXS = small angle X-ray scattering)
And here's what we got up to after the interviewer had gone... (click the picture to see a bigger version)
(SAXS = small angle X-ray scattering)
Friday, January 21, 2011
The post-beamtime blues
I arrived back home yesterday, having managed to get 7 hrs of unbroken sleep on the flight from San Francisco to Auckland. The day before that we had packed up, cruised around the Stanford campus for a few hours, and eventually driven out to the airport. The intensity of working basically every waking moment for 6 days straight, after a previous 4 days including a single 23-hr stint, has definitely caught up with both of us. I slept for 11 hrs last night which is a lot for me. Today I'm feeling a bit better, but it is only 9:30 in the morning! Still, I am glad I decided to take the day off, because my brain is really not in gear to do any serious work. I'm thinking it might be fine for weeding and scrubbing the front fence - both of which need doing.
While we were at SSRL we were interviewed for the SLAC daily e-newsletter. I'll post the link as soon as it appears - should be sometime this week.
This weekend a bunch of us from work are aiming to tramp the Southern Crossing (from Otaki Forks to Kaitoke). So this afternoon I will have to pack again, but at least I won't need to take my passport and electrical adapters :)
Oh, and the SAXS experiments worked soooo much better than the XRD, which is a bit of a shame but there's not much we can do about it. Now we have over 200 GB of data to analyse so that will keep us busy for the next few months.
While we were at SSRL we were interviewed for the SLAC daily e-newsletter. I'll post the link as soon as it appears - should be sometime this week.
This weekend a bunch of us from work are aiming to tramp the Southern Crossing (from Otaki Forks to Kaitoke). So this afternoon I will have to pack again, but at least I won't need to take my passport and electrical adapters :)
Oh, and the SAXS experiments worked soooo much better than the XRD, which is a bit of a shame but there's not much we can do about it. Now we have over 200 GB of data to analyse so that will keep us busy for the next few months.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
California
Happy new year all!
I've been in California this past week and have another week to go. It's another trip doing experiments at the Stanford Synchrotron. They have made a few upgrades to the facility, some of which are good and others which were not so good. For example, they now run the electron beam (which generates synchrotron X-rays as the electrons are deflected using magnetic fields - we use the X-rays that are produced to do experiments) in what is called 'top-up mode'. It used to be, the electrons would be injected 3 times a day, but then over time some of them are lost due to a variety of reasons. So over the course of 8 hrs between fills, the electron beam current - and therefore the X-ray beam intensity - would drop by about 40%. Now they top up the electron beam every 10 minutes, and they are running at a higher current than before, so all in all it generally means more stable experiments with no interruptions for the beam fills. So this is good; however the beam line (experimental station) we have been using for the last few days has not liked us for some reason. The X-ray beam shape and position seemed to move around, which was really annoying. Then the computer developed some kind of hard disk and/or power supply error (mind you, it is pretty antiquated so probably not surprising). Last of all the chemistry didn't work as well as we had hoped. But true to form, all the best results were obtained on the very last night at about 2 am.
Now I have 2 days off and am planning to veg out a bit, probably go for a short drive this afternoon, and generally rest up ahead of the next stint. On Wednesday we change beam lines and start new experiments. We'll be using the same chemistry etc. but it's a different technique: small-angle X-ray scattering, or SAXS for short. Probably the most provocatively-named technique there is (apart from SEXAFS - surface extended X-ray absorption fine structure). So it's not uncommon to have a conversation along the lines of:
"What are you up to next week?" "Oh, lots and lots of SAXS."
Or, "If we'd done the SAXS earlier, we would know if things were working or not."
In fact, at one point last year I gave two talks at work about some computer programs I have been developing to analyse SAXS data. I called the first, 'Getting the most out of SAXS' and the second 'Getting even more out of SAXS.' Strangely enough, hardly anybody came along. Then there's the all-popular title, 'Everything you wanted to know about SAXS but were too afraid to ask.'
Man, I need to get some sleep!
I've been in California this past week and have another week to go. It's another trip doing experiments at the Stanford Synchrotron. They have made a few upgrades to the facility, some of which are good and others which were not so good. For example, they now run the electron beam (which generates synchrotron X-rays as the electrons are deflected using magnetic fields - we use the X-rays that are produced to do experiments) in what is called 'top-up mode'. It used to be, the electrons would be injected 3 times a day, but then over time some of them are lost due to a variety of reasons. So over the course of 8 hrs between fills, the electron beam current - and therefore the X-ray beam intensity - would drop by about 40%. Now they top up the electron beam every 10 minutes, and they are running at a higher current than before, so all in all it generally means more stable experiments with no interruptions for the beam fills. So this is good; however the beam line (experimental station) we have been using for the last few days has not liked us for some reason. The X-ray beam shape and position seemed to move around, which was really annoying. Then the computer developed some kind of hard disk and/or power supply error (mind you, it is pretty antiquated so probably not surprising). Last of all the chemistry didn't work as well as we had hoped. But true to form, all the best results were obtained on the very last night at about 2 am.
Now I have 2 days off and am planning to veg out a bit, probably go for a short drive this afternoon, and generally rest up ahead of the next stint. On Wednesday we change beam lines and start new experiments. We'll be using the same chemistry etc. but it's a different technique: small-angle X-ray scattering, or SAXS for short. Probably the most provocatively-named technique there is (apart from SEXAFS - surface extended X-ray absorption fine structure). So it's not uncommon to have a conversation along the lines of:
"What are you up to next week?" "Oh, lots and lots of SAXS."
Or, "If we'd done the SAXS earlier, we would know if things were working or not."
In fact, at one point last year I gave two talks at work about some computer programs I have been developing to analyse SAXS data. I called the first, 'Getting the most out of SAXS' and the second 'Getting even more out of SAXS.' Strangely enough, hardly anybody came along. Then there's the all-popular title, 'Everything you wanted to know about SAXS but were too afraid to ask.'
Man, I need to get some sleep!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
