Grace的進修雜記:)

It is the second annual "Ladies's Lab night". We prepared it with several lab equipments for fun time.

They created Chladni pattern by adjusting the frequency. 

When I was a freshman, we used a white bread board to do the general physics experiment. Nowadays, students have circuit board to practice anything related to Electronic Circuit. They do not need to worry about having short loop or unexpected accidents in the lab.

Few of my students do not like to use those wires for building series or parallel circuits. For me, it is always fun to play with lightbulbs, even it might be dim lighting still showing something.

This is a summary for a seminar

Introduction: 

Nuclear fusion is a very clean way to produce energy, in comparison to those energy production processes that might cause pollution or high costs, such as coal or oil. Nuclear fusion requires a low carbon cost with very low fuel, not only reducing the amount of greenhouse gas but also decreasing the pollution to the surroundings.

This is just a brief note to give a picture of what I am doing recently. After understanding the projects, we start to work on some devices. It requires steady hand to hold on the small item. I am glad that my hands are cooperating most of the time.

Also team work is a must have for the project to go on a smooth path. If I got upset, our team members can share the loading. It also requires some patients for us to practice before doing the real serious work.

回學校已經一個多月了，好不容易把新的計劃弄懂，當然要開始動手更新？改造？

Beaverton City Library has several Adult Events and free Classes.
I took few English Language & Life Skills in spring term.
The goal for this course is for adults learning English: dynamic, family friendly, all levels welcome! Improve your English while exploring real world topics!

Beaverton City Library holds community crafting every other month, and I learn how to make the light switch plate become unique this time. I used to have white plastic switch plates in my room. It only took me around one hour; I have unique switch plate and outlet cover.

The trick is to use thin paper or material while you do the crafting. For instance, tissue paper will be easier to put on the light switch than wax paper. The only requirement for this project is patient.

In the beginning of this term , I received my student evaluation results, and I also got message from Science Department Chairperson. In reviewing the student evaluations, she was reminded of the commitment of time and energy I put into the classroom and would like to sincerely thank me for all I do.
I was struggling with stress when I started to teach as a science instructor. Therefore, I was not surprised to have the following comments:
I like applying the laws of physics to simple activities so that I can see how the graphs and measurements compare to what is expected.

To be be honest with you this page might be a boring article for you to read.
It is a kind of work report to my friends who want to know what I am doing in the office as a Technician.
Since some of my friends want to know what I do as a Contact Center Technician, I write this for them.

It's been very cold and rainy, stay warm! Maybe you are also preparing for finals , please make sure to get enough sleep and eat healthy food!

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Recently I found out that hands-on experiment requires a lot of patience .

A probe is set to receive a thin film of Aluminum via a thermal evaporation vacuum system. The reason to coat the fiber in the vacuum system is to create a clean surrounding for the coating process. The thermal evaporation vacuum system includes a main chamber, ion gauge, roughing valve, high vacuum valve, fore-line valve, diffusion pump, mechanical pump, flow switch, heat sink, solid state relay, neutral bus, solenoid valves, and ammeter.

It is highly necessary to maintain an interlock for the diffusion pump by using the flow switch and solid state relay. The interlock is needed to prevent damage on the diffusion pump. Specifically, if there is not enough water passing through the flow switch, the diffusion pump cannot be turned on. The diffusion pump needs water when pumping vapor cycle and gas flow inside the system. The diffusion pump, VHS-6, is operated at 120 Volts with the solid state relay controlled by a 24 Volts power supply. Therefore, a solid state relay is designed to switch the power for the load circuitry of the diffusion pump. The neutral bus is technically allowed to bond the wires of the system. This thermal evaporation vacuum system is used to coat a thin layer of Aluminum on an optical fiber. Everywhere except the tip of the optical fiber has been covered in a thin layer of Aluminum.

There is an old saying " To see is too believe," and I do agree with that. If I have the chance to prove it by myself, I will remember those theories for long time.
Since I handle the chemical etching in our laboratory, I know how important to neutralize the acid and base. If I need to memorize the reaction function, I will not be able to make it.
After I have some hands-on experiences, I can use Leak Detector to check if there is a leak in my system.

I had a presentation, which was scheduled on last Wednesday, but it was postponed to this week.
When I prepared for my presentation, I talked to my roommates, who don't have any background knowledge of my study. The outcome works for me, at least they get the big picture of what i try to explain in the power-point.
Last Friday, when we have group meeting with my professor, who wanted me to change my subject of my presentation.

Since our laboratory does not have 208 or 240 voltage power for us plug in the diffusion pump, we need to change the heater element to 120 Voltage.
The following message adapts for Varian VHS-6 Full Replacement Heater Assemble 120 V, 2200W. 18.5 A, 6.5 ohms.
The Varian VHS-6 diffusion vacuum pump Stovetop-Style full replacement heater is for use with 120 VAC input power. The heater pulls 2200W, 18.5Amps and has a room temperature resistance of 6.5 Ohms. To change the heater element of the Diffusion pump:

Since I oversaw the rebuilding of a Thermal Vacuum Evaporator system, I wanted to write down those process to keep documents for others.
We order Varian DP Thermal Overload Switch: VA-KLIXON-300(300F or 147C) for VHS-6 from: DUNIWAY STOCKROOM. This company has almost everything for your vacuum system, but the min order for each purchase is $25. This thermal switch costs $75 so we meet the purchase of min purchase.
Before we start the replacing process, we need to have some background knowledge of this component. The following statement is from: Ideal. http://www.idealvac.com/files/brochures/VHS-4-6-250a.pdf

I went to a workshop for SEMI at a glance, and I wrote down some note there.
Industry leaders presented skills for success to us, including ability to communicate, flexibility, effective,strong technical background, analytical and critical thinking, results and customer orientation, strong sense of ownership and passion for what you do everyday, good presentation skills, quick adaption, detailed technical product knowledge, practice active listening, inquisitiveness, appreciation of the customer view, appreciation for running a business.
In short, there are few key words.

This is just a report of a seminar.
By exploring truly modern aspects of quantum mechanics in the undergraduate laboratory students can understand Quantum Mechanics, which may be hard if students only think about those abstract theories. “Exploring Fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics in the Undergraduate Laboratory” was a lecture, which was presented by Professor Mark Beck. Before the lecture students learned quantum mechanics from a little of history to wave-particle Duality experimental phenomena, which was a huge step to cross. During the learning process, the heavy mathematical analysis usually bothered students a lot. Maybe the teaching materials or methods need to be changed. A suitable textbook will lead students to a new concept of learning quantum mechanics.
There were five presented experiments in this lecture. The purpose is to provide some visible results for students to understand comprehensive quantum mechanics. The first one was spontaneous parametric down conversion. The second one was to “prove” Photons exist. The third one was single-photon interference. The fourth one was quantum state measurement. The fifth one was to test of local realism. The first laboratory section included optical experiments, which provided one photon converted into two. Because of energy conservation and momentum conservation, the photons were produced at the same time. Since the optical experiment was visible, students could get clear images of the results, which helped them to comprehend the difficult quantum mechanics theories.

The work for me to do in the lab is fabrication of fiber-based near-field optical probes, which are used for implementing high resolution Raman spectroscopy.
In addition to the fabrication process includes chemical etching and metal coating under vacuum conditions. We aim to measure directly the nanometer-sized amplitude of the NSOM probe when the probe is mounted on a Tuning Fork. We plan to use the "razor blade" method. By moving the razor blade across the image an intensity profile is recorded. This method allows simultaneous measurement of both the tuning fork output signal and the ac component of the optical intensity. Alternative we could use an interferometer set up.
A particular application of this work is to monitor, via nano-Raman, the eventual liquid-solid phase transition that mesoscopic fluid films undergo when subjected to confinement (between the NSOM probe and a solid substrate.

This is brief summary of my report about an overview of LCD technology and competing approaches to flat panel displays.
As technology improves, the displays of electric devices are changing to thin and light monitors. Therefore Liquid Crystal Displays are replacing the big and heavy CRT monitors. The structure of LCD is composed of two sheets of specially treated glass such as Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), contains a liquid crystal solution, and a pair of polarizers.
Type of LCD: