Re: Introductions
Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 3:44 pm
Hello
Last fall, the idea to make a hologram first came to me. So I found the Integraf website. I read how to make a single-beam reflection hologram, and thought "I can do that." I purchased plates and developing chemicals from Integraf and set up to make a three-color hologram of a shiny coin. I succeeded, sort of. So then I decided it was time to get my students involved.
I am a physics professor at a compass point university, I am happy to have found this forum. And so I'll share my story...
When I came to the uni at the turn of the century, I wanted to develop an experiment program that would provide research experience for our undergraduate majors. I asked a mentor for suggestions what to do. He said "do something with lasers or digital cameras. Those are cheap now, and what kid wouldn't want to play with lasers or cameras."
My optics education consisted of that one month at the end of a first course in undergraduate physics. My research background involved electron and X-ray optics, but no visible light optics. Then I read a paper about building an optical tweezers to manipulate micron-sized objects, and thought "I can do that." Cobbling together a modest startup, I got a laser, a camera, other optics and mounts, and an optics breadboard. There was no lab space, but there was a large closet full of useless stuff. So I cleared it out and installed the breadboard on a desk that was probably WWII surplus. Built the tweezers and it worked, sort of.
Long story, short... improve, modify, diversify into laser-induced spectroscopy on microscopic things. All this provides projects for my majors.
Along the way, about five years ago, my uni brings in consultants to help us science profs design labs for the "future science building". The future science building has been a promise for two decades before I came. This was like the third attempt at designing labs. So when they asked me how I'd set up a research lab, I said "no windows. Two vibration isolation tables with utilities (single-phase, 3-phase, air, vac, gas) and racks dropped from the ceiling, and with each table surrounded by blackout curtains. And more stuff. And a prep room. And oh yeah, put a cabinet right by the door to store laser glasses." Then I went about my business and promptly forgot about it.
A year ago, I toured the new science building, still under construction, for the first time. And I saw my lab, exactly as designed, all the way down to the UV-anti microbial safety glasses cabinet right by the door. Wow, dreams can come true! And so I moved equipment into the new playground this past summer. My current rig takes up a quarter of one table. But what about the other table?
What can one do with an empty optics table, spare lasers and optics, and some (much better than my startup) money? Last fall, the idea to make a hologram first came to me.
Last fall, the idea to make a hologram first came to me. So I found the Integraf website. I read how to make a single-beam reflection hologram, and thought "I can do that." I purchased plates and developing chemicals from Integraf and set up to make a three-color hologram of a shiny coin. I succeeded, sort of. So then I decided it was time to get my students involved.
I am a physics professor at a compass point university, I am happy to have found this forum. And so I'll share my story...
When I came to the uni at the turn of the century, I wanted to develop an experiment program that would provide research experience for our undergraduate majors. I asked a mentor for suggestions what to do. He said "do something with lasers or digital cameras. Those are cheap now, and what kid wouldn't want to play with lasers or cameras."
My optics education consisted of that one month at the end of a first course in undergraduate physics. My research background involved electron and X-ray optics, but no visible light optics. Then I read a paper about building an optical tweezers to manipulate micron-sized objects, and thought "I can do that." Cobbling together a modest startup, I got a laser, a camera, other optics and mounts, and an optics breadboard. There was no lab space, but there was a large closet full of useless stuff. So I cleared it out and installed the breadboard on a desk that was probably WWII surplus. Built the tweezers and it worked, sort of.
Long story, short... improve, modify, diversify into laser-induced spectroscopy on microscopic things. All this provides projects for my majors.
Along the way, about five years ago, my uni brings in consultants to help us science profs design labs for the "future science building". The future science building has been a promise for two decades before I came. This was like the third attempt at designing labs. So when they asked me how I'd set up a research lab, I said "no windows. Two vibration isolation tables with utilities (single-phase, 3-phase, air, vac, gas) and racks dropped from the ceiling, and with each table surrounded by blackout curtains. And more stuff. And a prep room. And oh yeah, put a cabinet right by the door to store laser glasses." Then I went about my business and promptly forgot about it.
A year ago, I toured the new science building, still under construction, for the first time. And I saw my lab, exactly as designed, all the way down to the UV-anti microbial safety glasses cabinet right by the door. Wow, dreams can come true! And so I moved equipment into the new playground this past summer. My current rig takes up a quarter of one table. But what about the other table?
What can one do with an empty optics table, spare lasers and optics, and some (much better than my startup) money? Last fall, the idea to make a hologram first came to me.