Goals

At first, my goal for the research was to become acclimated to the scopes and the general idea of electron microscopy. This goal was reached quickly, thanks to the interaction with Dr. Loughran and the graduate students. The first scope was the portable scanning tunneling microscope. I learned how to set it up and operate it quickly. Next came the AFM, which was different, but similar enough that the transition was quick and painless. I am now in the process of modifying a laser, which will be used to heat the gold sample while in the sample holder. This will enable us to learn the effects of heat on the sample. The primary focus remains the study of alpha-particle impacts of the Au(III), with the heat studies being minor side projects. My goal for the foreseeable future is to become better at scanning with the portable AFM and STM. I may soon have access to a more powerful, non portable STM that is currently being used by on of the graduate students in the lab. That would add yet another layer of depth to the research and images that I have already done and created.