Journal of Daily Activities:
Tuesday, June 3, 2008:
Rewired a laser diode mount so it would match the inputs on the laser we received
Installed the diode in the mount and turned the laser on- It works!
Worked on learning labview- finished tutorials 1-3
Wednesday, June 04, 2008:
Finished tutorial four
Took data regarding power inputs and outputs to make sure the laser functions as expected
Made a spectrum analysis
The
analysis originally showed three peaks (should only show one); however this was
later determined to be a problem with the fiber optic connectors, not the laser
itself
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Worked on program
Attended Ethics Seminar
Oh and there was this tornado thingamabob that I went out a chasing=>
Friday, June 6, 2008
Got up wayyyy too late
Did some work on the program, not much progress, the code is being sent to the machine but it’s returning a command error
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Went down to Winfield for the home inspection
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Lazed about
Monday, June 09, 2008
Fixed the problem! Apparently the coding was different than the manual version. In the manual you had to use “DIS\s40\n” but when sending directly to the machine the code is “DIS 40”
The program now reads a counter number and a given wavelength and adjusts the mirrors to produce light at that wavelength
The program also now reads a voltage and saves that data to a file
Friday, July 11, 2008- Update of recent activities
Events:
Manhattan Tornado 2008- pictures can be found here.
Cardwell Hall (the physics building) was affected by this tornado. In addition to blown out windows, collapsed ceilings, and water damage, asbestos from damaged tiles was released into the air. When this was discovered two weeks after the building reopened, it was promptly shut down again for three days while the air was tested/cleaned.
I joined in the relief effort for the next two weekends (partly because they fed us better than the cafeteria). The damage to the surrounding community was astounding (pictures of this to come later). All together, Kansas State University suffered several million dollars worth of damage.
Country Stampede- a giant four day concert featuring country greats like Charlie Daniels, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Josh Turner, Taylor Swift, Rodney Atkins, and Bucky Covington. (pictures on facebook, soon to be here)
Colorado- For the July 4th holiday, several physics students and one math major decided to go backpacking in Colorado. The trip was amazing and created memories that will last a lifetime. Pictures again are on facebook, soon to be here.
Academic Stuff
The program to control the monochromator has now been finished. I have been using it over the past week to determine whether or not our Carbon Fiber Nanotube Laser is generating a supercontinuum. Currently it is, but not the way we would like (more to come on generating a supercontinuum later). While attempting to solve this problem I discovered a number of interesting things. First, our spectrum responds to changes in laser power. By messing around with power levels I determined that our laser produces the greatest peak power at around 82mA. I also determined that, unlike what my advisor thought, maximum pump power did not compute to maximum output power. In fact, our pump (details on those later), operates most efficiently at 1100-1250 mA where the max is actually 1600mA.