Friday, August 24, 2007
in other news... (lederhosen)
Anyone in the market for a paid of diamond-studded Lederhosen? This just made me laugh.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070824/ap_on_fe_st/odd_luxury_lederhosen;_ylt=AtHTsW8bRfg9Y6uyCH3RPwGs0NUE
Austrian designs luxury lederhosen line
VIENNA, Austria - An Austrian designer is taking orders for personalized luxury lederhosen and recently sold a diamond-studded pair for $114,000.
Christian Wohlmuther, who owns a clothing business that sells traditional Austrian attire based in Bad Mitterndorf, Styria, said Friday the cost of his creations varies depending on the decoration.
Those interested can choose from an array of stones, including garnets, rubies, emeralds and diamonds, that are then mounted on buttons made either of sterling silver, gold or platinum.
"We generally focus on the client's budget and then show him what's possible," Wohlmuther said.
Wohlmuther, who works with a local jeweler in the Styrian town of Liezen, said his first pair of luxury lederhosen — decorated with 166 diamonds — went to a German buyer who lives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, earlier this summer. He said he hopes to attract more interest from that region, as well as from Russia.
Lederhosen are traditional short, leather trousers that some Austrian and German men still wear today at festivals or special occasions.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070824/ap_on_fe_st/odd_luxury_lederhosen;_ylt=AtHTsW8bRfg9Y6uyCH3RPwGs0NUE
Austrian designs luxury lederhosen line
VIENNA, Austria - An Austrian designer is taking orders for personalized luxury lederhosen and recently sold a diamond-studded pair for $114,000.
Christian Wohlmuther, who owns a clothing business that sells traditional Austrian attire based in Bad Mitterndorf, Styria, said Friday the cost of his creations varies depending on the decoration.
Those interested can choose from an array of stones, including garnets, rubies, emeralds and diamonds, that are then mounted on buttons made either of sterling silver, gold or platinum.
"We generally focus on the client's budget and then show him what's possible," Wohlmuther said.
Wohlmuther, who works with a local jeweler in the Styrian town of Liezen, said his first pair of luxury lederhosen — decorated with 166 diamonds — went to a German buyer who lives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, earlier this summer. He said he hopes to attract more interest from that region, as well as from Russia.
Lederhosen are traditional short, leather trousers that some Austrian and German men still wear today at festivals or special occasions.
Astrophysicist member of rock-group Queen
I just had to post this... who knew? Cool stuff.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070824/ap_en_mu/people_brian_may;_ylt=AvgZ7mUbj91Wz3ia1D1yYDCs0NUE
Rocker gets doctorate — 30 years late
LONDON - Guitarist and songwriter Brian May has completed his doctorate in astrophysics — three decades after he put academia on hold to form the rock group Queen.
The rocker was awarded his qualification Thursday by London's Imperial College and said submitting his thesis, "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud," to supervisors was as nerve-racking as any stadium gig.
"I'm feeling rather joyful. I cannot tell you how much of a weight off the mind it is," May said late Thursday.
May was an astrophysics student at Imperial College when he joined Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor to form Queen in 1970, but dropped his doctorate as the glam rock band became successful. Queen became one of Britain's biggest music groups in the 1970s, with hits including "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Will Rock You."
Following Mercury's 1991 death, May produced two solo albums, the latest of which, "Another World" appeared in 1998.
But the guitarist continued to pursue his out-of-this-world interests — and last year co-authored a book titled "Bang! The Complete History of the Universe."
He told reporters Thursday that handing over his completed thesis — a 48,000 word study which seeks to prove planets and dust clouds in our solar system orbit in the same direction — and facing examiners for a review of his work was a tough challenge.
"It was a bit nerve-racking walking into the room, but once we got going it was fascinating," May said. "There's always that feeling they could ask that big question that could sink you, but luckily they didn't."
May will be formally presented with his doctorate next May at a ceremony at London's Royal Albert Hall.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070824/ap_en_mu/people_brian_may;_ylt=AvgZ7mUbj91Wz3ia1D1yYDCs0NUE
Rocker gets doctorate — 30 years late
LONDON - Guitarist and songwriter Brian May has completed his doctorate in astrophysics — three decades after he put academia on hold to form the rock group Queen.
The rocker was awarded his qualification Thursday by London's Imperial College and said submitting his thesis, "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud," to supervisors was as nerve-racking as any stadium gig.
"I'm feeling rather joyful. I cannot tell you how much of a weight off the mind it is," May said late Thursday.
May was an astrophysics student at Imperial College when he joined Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor to form Queen in 1970, but dropped his doctorate as the glam rock band became successful. Queen became one of Britain's biggest music groups in the 1970s, with hits including "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Will Rock You."
Following Mercury's 1991 death, May produced two solo albums, the latest of which, "Another World" appeared in 1998.
But the guitarist continued to pursue his out-of-this-world interests — and last year co-authored a book titled "Bang! The Complete History of the Universe."
He told reporters Thursday that handing over his completed thesis — a 48,000 word study which seeks to prove planets and dust clouds in our solar system orbit in the same direction — and facing examiners for a review of his work was a tough challenge.
"It was a bit nerve-racking walking into the room, but once we got going it was fascinating," May said. "There's always that feeling they could ask that big question that could sink you, but luckily they didn't."
May will be formally presented with his doctorate next May at a ceremony at London's Royal Albert Hall.
Setting up shop in Utah
Well, the move went pretty well. All my equipment seems to have survived the U-Haul that I drove across country. My student, now graduated, Lee Wienkes drove with me and helped set up the equipment again at BYU. Pauline and kids drove with Grandpa Phil a day ahead of us and made a stop at the Ruby's place in Wyoming.
I've been filling out forms and setting up my office at BYU. Our "stuff" arrived two days ago, so Pauline's been busy unpacking boxes at home.
I've been filling out forms and setting up my office at BYU. Our "stuff" arrived two days ago, so Pauline's been busy unpacking boxes at home.
Friday, August 10, 2007
It must be true, I read it on the internet!
Wow, three blog entries in one day. Can you believe it?
Anyway, my picture is now on the BYU Physics website:
http://www.physics.byu.edu/directory.aspx
Anyway, my picture is now on the BYU Physics website:
http://www.physics.byu.edu/directory.aspx
Summer experiments
Tom Kennedy, my post-doc advisor at the Naval Research Lab, emailed me a couple of days ago and asked how the experiments were coming. I emailed him back some details. Since I don't talk about the specifics of my research to people very much (I worry about boring and/or confusing people), I thought I'd post my reply to Tom here, with just a couple of paragraphs removed. Hope Tom doesn't mind. This way people can read or skip over, as desired! :-)
If you don't understand all the terms, that's OK!
Acronym glossary:
ESR = electron spin resonance
NMR = nuclear magnetic resonance
ODENDOR = optically detected electron-nuclear double resonance
ODMR = optically detected magnetic resonance
PL = photoluminescence
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Tom,
Experiments have been hectic, but have been going very well overall this whole summer. As you know, the first set of experiments were to test out our cavity using the InP sample for the ESR, and optical NMR with GaAs to test the nuclear coils. That all went smoothly. I plan to use that data along with details on the cavity construction, theoretical predictions of cavity modes, etc, in a Review of Scientific Instruments paper.
Then, we had good success doing ESR on the three main samples. It was almost too easy with the Kerr rotation technique! I kept telling my students that we were able to do in one afternoon something that you and I had tried unsuccessfully to do for at least 6 months! I'm still amazed that we can get quality data in 20 second-long scans! Anyway, in addition to the ESR, we had good success seeing nuclear effects, and were able to eliminate those nuclear effects using NMR. We were able to do ODENDOR, but with only mixed success--scans were not reproducible at all and I think we kept on getting caught in the age-old problem involving feed-back between the electrons and nuclei. That is, when we resonated the nuclei in the ODENDOR experiment, the electron resonance position would shift and (since the ESR signal is what we were detecting) blur the results. But we were able to (I think) get publishable data there too. If I recall correctly, we were even able to see the quadrupole splitting in two of the three nuclear resonances from the ODENDOR experiment. Also, by using the ESR resonance position to track the amount of effective B-field from the nuclei as a function of time, we were able to measure the nuclear relaxation time very convincingly (after first having polarized the nuclei to some extent). I think I'll be able to tie all of this stuff together into a single paper concentrating on ODMR with the nuclear effects.
The last couple of days haven't been nearly as successful, unfortunately. We tried doing the Kerr rotation ESR on two quantum well samples (14 nm QWs). We *may* have seen something with a g-factor of about 0.36, but I was by no means convinced. If it was present, it was extremely broad--and there was a lot of weird stuff going on in the background on one of the samples. So I've given up on that for the time being.
Tomorrow is our last day of experiments. Just for fun, we're going to try something completely different. I never was able to measure T1 of the 3E14 sample using the old PL polarization technique, because the probe pulse had to be so extremely weak. So, we're going to try doing this with Kerr rotation as the probe pulse. It'll require synchronizing two lasers and pulsing them both electronically--one circularly polarized that is above the bandgap, to polarize the electrons, and one linearly polarized that is just below the bandgap, to provide the Kerr rotation probe of the polarization status. Seems like it should work! But we'll see. [Note: it wasn't successful at all. C'est la vie.]
John
If you don't understand all the terms, that's OK!
Acronym glossary:
ESR = electron spin resonance
NMR = nuclear magnetic resonance
ODENDOR = optically detected electron-nuclear double resonance
ODMR = optically detected magnetic resonance
PL = photoluminescence
___
Tom,
Experiments have been hectic, but have been going very well overall this whole summer. As you know, the first set of experiments were to test out our cavity using the InP sample for the ESR, and optical NMR with GaAs to test the nuclear coils. That all went smoothly. I plan to use that data along with details on the cavity construction, theoretical predictions of cavity modes, etc, in a Review of Scientific Instruments paper.
Then, we had good success doing ESR on the three main samples. It was almost too easy with the Kerr rotation technique! I kept telling my students that we were able to do in one afternoon something that you and I had tried unsuccessfully to do for at least 6 months! I'm still amazed that we can get quality data in 20 second-long scans! Anyway, in addition to the ESR, we had good success seeing nuclear effects, and were able to eliminate those nuclear effects using NMR. We were able to do ODENDOR, but with only mixed success--scans were not reproducible at all and I think we kept on getting caught in the age-old problem involving feed-back between the electrons and nuclei. That is, when we resonated the nuclei in the ODENDOR experiment, the electron resonance position would shift and (since the ESR signal is what we were detecting) blur the results. But we were able to (I think) get publishable data there too. If I recall correctly, we were even able to see the quadrupole splitting in two of the three nuclear resonances from the ODENDOR experiment. Also, by using the ESR resonance position to track the amount of effective B-field from the nuclei as a function of time, we were able to measure the nuclear relaxation time very convincingly (after first having polarized the nuclei to some extent). I think I'll be able to tie all of this stuff together into a single paper concentrating on ODMR with the nuclear effects.
The last couple of days haven't been nearly as successful, unfortunately. We tried doing the Kerr rotation ESR on two quantum well samples (14 nm QWs). We *may* have seen something with a g-factor of about 0.36, but I was by no means convinced. If it was present, it was extremely broad--and there was a lot of weird stuff going on in the background on one of the samples. So I've given up on that for the time being.
Tomorrow is our last day of experiments. Just for fun, we're going to try something completely different. I never was able to measure T1 of the 3E14 sample using the old PL polarization technique, because the probe pulse had to be so extremely weak. So, we're going to try doing this with Kerr rotation as the probe pulse. It'll require synchronizing two lasers and pulsing them both electronically--one circularly polarized that is above the bandgap, to polarize the electrons, and one linearly polarized that is just below the bandgap, to provide the Kerr rotation probe of the polarization status. Seems like it should work! But we'll see. [Note: it wasn't successful at all. C'est la vie.]
John
Time ticking down
I wrapped up my experiments today. We're giving farewell talks in church on Sunday. The movers are coming on Monday. My dad arrives on Monday to help Pauline & kids drive cross-country. I pack up my laboratory equipment on Monday and Tuesday. Pauline and company leaves for Utah on Tuesday. My student Lee and I drive out with the moving van full of equipment on Wednesday.
Whew.
Whew.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Who wants to be a superhero?
Apparently Emily does. ;-)
We've had some fun as a family watching the TV show, Who wants to be a superhero, now in its second season.
So a couple of days ago, Emily decided that our family should be superheros. She invented characters & superpowers and made rudamentary costumes for us:
Megamind (John) - he has the power to think about physics
The Caped Kid (Leslie) - when she runs, her cape flies out
Flexible Friend (Emily) - she is very flexible
Superscrubber (Pauline) - she is very good at scrubbing hard stains off of stuff
We've had some fun as a family watching the TV show, Who wants to be a superhero, now in its second season.
So a couple of days ago, Emily decided that our family should be superheros. She invented characters & superpowers and made rudamentary costumes for us:
Megamind (John) - he has the power to think about physics
The Caped Kid (Leslie) - when she runs, her cape flies out
Flexible Friend (Emily) - she is very flexible
Superscrubber (Pauline) - she is very good at scrubbing hard stains off of stuff
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Utah Names
In honor of our impending move (less than 2 weeks!), here's a link to the Utah Baby Namer:
http://www.wesclark.com/ubn
(I figure I should make fun of these things now, while I can do so safely... ;-) )
http://www.wesclark.com/ubn
(I figure I should make fun of these things now, while I can do so safely... ;-) )
House on the Rock, revisited
When my folks visited a couple of weeks ago, we decided we had to take them to the House on the Rock. I posted a bunch of pictures from last time we were there, but here are a few new ones.
The "wizards" pointed the way around the place.
The outdoor areas were very nicely maintained, and a lot prettier than last time we were there.
I'll miss the greenery when we move to Utah! But at least we'll be closer to my photogenic mom. :-)
Here's a view of the "Infinity Room" from below, through the trees. Look--no supports!
One of the coolest parts of the house was the bathroom in the eatery, believe it or not. Totally cracked us up the first time we were there. Note the animals up by the ceiling.
The "wizards" pointed the way around the place.
The outdoor areas were very nicely maintained, and a lot prettier than last time we were there.
I'll miss the greenery when we move to Utah! But at least we'll be closer to my photogenic mom. :-)
Here's a view of the "Infinity Room" from below, through the trees. Look--no supports!
One of the coolest parts of the house was the bathroom in the eatery, believe it or not. Totally cracked us up the first time we were there. Note the animals up by the ceiling.
