Summer at SLAC

I have not posted in ages! Sorry for that. I have not being that busy. I just did not felt like it.

Anyways, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center is awesome. I am working with a very interesting problem: making water samples. My mentor is interested in the study of the molecular structure of water using x-ray pulses. For a certain type of experiments one needs a thin layer of water, around 500 nm. I came up with a simple setup to make these water samples. So far we have test them down at Stanford's campus and the Advanced Light Source over at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. Now I have tons of data in my computer and have been procrastinating about analyzing it. Oh well.

Physics (and Science in general) is a bit different at SLAC. I spent the last summer at NIST in Gaithersburg, MD. There I worked building an optical trap to study single molecules. I guess most of my complaints are about the materials. The stockroom at NIST was like a shopping mall. Here at SLAC is more modest. But I guess it is like comparing an orange to a bottle. SLAC is just one big machine, while NIST is like hundreds of small machines. Still, I am very happy of being able to experience research in both of this great facilities.

I am liking my research at SLAC. It is far from my main interest: String Theory and fundamental physics. In about three weeks I'll be flying to JFK International Airport in NY. I am excited about starting graduate school. Let's see how it goes and what I end up doing...