Week+of+2-18-2013

2-20-2013 I came in today and began testing out the amount of drift that occurs on the scope I have been using over the past few weeks. The intent of this is to find how plausible it will be to retract, approach, and scan the same area after heating a sample. This will prove useful in determining the probability of success that I will have with my heating experiment when I can finally begin using the Peltier scope. Matt has informed me that the parts are being machined Friday, going to the welder later that night, then machined again on Monday, and returning to the welter again that night. Following that, the scope should be available to use and test. AD-1.5 µm, 2 A/D, 300 ms/line I stopped this scan part of the way through because of the drift AE- 1.5 µm, 1 A/D, 300 ms/line. Following this image, I utilized the range function on the scope and then scanned the same region again to test for the amount of drift. AF-1.5 µm, 1 A/D, 300 ms/line, This image drifted much less than what was happening earlier according to Matt. It drifted a total of about .4 µm down and a bit to the left. I used range once more to test the drift on this region. AG- 1.5 µm, 1 A/D, 300 ms/line This image too drifted about .4 µm but this time it was to the left and slightly up. Following this, I tried to make the tip move backwards and approach to scan the same spot. I moved the tip back one step and it immediately crashed. I tried adjusting some of the settings in the motor setup but they were to no avail. I reset all of the settings and approached the tip again. Once the scope had approached, I tilted it so that gravity would naturally make the tip move backward. I utilized the retract function successfully and I was able, surprisingly, to approach successfully afterwards. AH-1.5 µm, 1 A/D, 300 ms/line I hit the range button again following this scan to continue to test the drift on the scope. AI-1.5 µm, 1 A/D/, 300 ms/line This region right here only drifted about a quarter of a micron to the right. I retracted the tip one step then clicked approach. It only took one step to approach. AJ- 1.5 µm, 1 A/D, 300 ms/line. After this image, I fixed the slope and scanned the same area again. AK was of the same region but shifted slightly upward.

AL-1.5µm, 1 A/D, 300 ms/line It was not the same area so I scanned a much larger region in order to look for the former region. AN-2.72 µm, 1A/D, 500 ms/line I retracted the tip one step and approached. However, oddly enough, the tip took 14 steps to approach this time while all of the other times only took 1 step. This scan had one or two spots that looked like they may have been the region from AJ and AK but none was too convincing. AO-2.72 µm, 1 A/D, 500 ms/line This image did not really resemble the region in AN. Matt suggested that the cause for our inability to retract, approach, and scan the same region could possibly be the size of the piezoelectric tube. The piezoelectric tube utilized in this scope is about twice as large as the one used in the previous scope. Matt stated that the scanning range of this piezo might be large enough that we will be able to perform the heating experiments without actually moving the tip back though we will not be able to test that until we have the new scope running.