Spring+2011+summary

Second semester 2011:

-The biggest thing that happened this semester was the study of potentially lunar dust recovered from the Apollo rock sample bag -The in-lab scans were hampered by various technical glitches -Overall, not many great quality images -However, many issues were either resolved or bypassed, which will make more extensive scanning this summer more effective

-I started the semester scanning the Au(III) exposed to Polonium-210, a continuation from last semester -The primary instrument was the portable AFM, with some minor portable STM scanning in late May (This summer will likely include a mix of both portable STM and AFM, possibly with some more powerful STM time) -I also was tasked with searching for a replacement radiation source for the aging Polonium-210 (This is still a work in progress and the source may be replaced during the summer) -Throughout the semester, I was either taught or discovered new techniques for scanning with the AFM. -While these were not too effective due to the problems with the scope and the time spent fixing it, they will undoubtedly be helpful moving forward, with more time spent in the lab

-The lunar sample project was an interesting side journey to the main radiation scanning -We collected samples from the Apollo moon rock bag -We used optical microscopy with these, as the pieces were difficult to zero in on with the AFM scan head -Also, we ventured over to Stinson-Remick to use different scopes with these samples, including identifying the elemental composition using backscattering