Thursday, August 28, 2008
I took a trip to Lexington Kentucky last month. While I was there I had a few conversations with the local residents. Inevitably the conversation turned to what I did for a living. I explained that I was a scientist working on the X-ray laser project at SLAC.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Talked to researcher Stephan Friedrich from Livermore the other day about a device his group’s developed to assist in the commissioning phase of the LCLS. Basically they’ve devised a sensor that will be placed directly in the X-ray beam to measure its full power.
Monday, June 23, 2008
The LCLS is moving along. As part of a project that lasts more than five years it is often difficult to see progress and the goal cans seem just beyond the horizon. There are, however, events that bring your perspective in line with the real progress.
Friday, June 13, 2008
The requirements for the LCLS injector gun UV drive laser are in some part quite challenging. Along with a specific wavelength, repetition rate and energy, the laser beam needs a particular profile in both longitudinal (time domain) and transverse (space) modes.
Monday, May 05, 2008
The baby is already one year old.
The first electron beam out of the LCLS injector was delivered on April 5, 2007 after a few days of stress and contractions. We had been given the administrative beam authorization the day before, on the 4th of April.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Let me say this right off the bat to avoid any inkling of confusion: I really like my job. I enjoy coming to work everyday. It's probably a safe assumption to say the majority of people in the world can’t make that claim. However, as exciting as this project is to work on it's been difficult adjusting to the time scales of such a large project.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Knowing the atomic structure is fundamental to developing our understanding of the properties of materials, but if one could know how the atoms move by making molecular movies we would gain invaluable insights. To make a molecular movie we need a movie camera with the ability to see the atoms and to take the individual stills that will make up our movie on the time scale of the atomic motion.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Chatting the other day with one of the guys from the scientific instrumentation group about the science to come from the LCLS, I was struck by the idea that the experimental instruments are considered an altogether separate project from the LCLS.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
One of the most fascinating aspects of physics is how we keep jumping by orders of magnitude. In early physics courses of high school, you get introduced to power of 10 numbers and then get acquainted with Avogadro’s number, speed of light, electron charge … In daily activities,
you rarely need to use power of 10 for paying your bills or doing your cooking.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
A few weeks ago I was invited to share my life as a scientist working on the LCLS project. I was surprised and honored that this opportunity was offered to me. I quickly accepted. However, I started to get a bit worried after a few days of pondering.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Leaving your country, your family, your friends to start a new job 9,000 km away from them (oh sorry, 5,600 miles) is not a straight decision to make. For me, I didn’t really need a long time to make up my mind!
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