Week+of+Aug.+4

Jun's Logbook
=Week of Aug. 4=

__August 4__ Tried getting a nice image. Over the weekend (Thurs/Fri) Annette tightened the frame of the STM and also found that one of the bars in the actual scope was loose. This improved the images dramatically and seems to have fixed the noise problem. We are now able to identify domain boundaries of octanethiol.

Also, a way of finding an upper bound of how much the gold is actually heating was discussed. The first method will be to try putting a crystalline solid with a known melting point on the surface on the gold and heating it with the laser. If the solid has melted, we know the melting point has been reached. The first material to try is powdered iodine. The melting point is about 20ºC above room temperature.

__August 5__

__August 6__

__August 7__ The noise is off and on. Can't seem to get consistently good images.

__August 8__ The decision has been made to rebuild the scope. In addition to the noise problem not being fixed, the electronics can not be turned off using the switch.

Tried drop-casting iodine dissolved in chlorofoam on two pieces of gold letting one dry under the hood and one with the laser shooting at it. No visible difference in how long it takes to sublime can be seen.