Reflecting on atomoptical mirrors for helium beam focusing
Rideal Travel Bursar Annie Weeks reports on her visit to the Physics Department of the University of Newcastle, Australia
 I wish to thank the Society of Chemical Industry for awarding me a Sir Eric
Rideal Travel Bursary for my recent trip to visit the physics department of the
University of Newcastle, Australia.
The interaction with chemists and physicists there afforded by my visit was valuable to me on many levels.
I was invited to give a seminar to a mixed audience of
chemists and physicists. I outlined recent work on the development of atomoptical mirrors for helium beam focusing, work done over the course of my
PhD, and in the context of the development of a scanning helium microscope
(SHeM) at Cambridge.
The questions following my talk were particularly
useful, as scientists from different backgrounds approached my
interdisciplinary project from varied perspectives. Their questions highlighted
areas of overlap in our fields, challenged me to investigate new aspects
of my project.
The field of helium atom microscopy
is an emerging one, and the Newcastle group has expertise in a different
aspect of the field, namely spatially-resolved helium detection. I was fortunate
to see their excellent facilities, including a chemical vapour deposition system
in which they grow carbon nanotubes for field ionisation of helium atoms, a
system which has been investigated in my lab as part of the Cambridge SHeM
project as well. The face-to-face contact afforded the sharing of insights which
might be hindered by long-distance communication, and it was valuable to speak informally with people working in a variety of fields.
Visiting the lab was useful for me to see where a synthesis might be
found between the two groups, and it was also interesting to see their work in the
context of their own projects. I was inspired by some of the new ideas
generated in their lab: simple yet elegant applications of existing technology.
For example, a drug delivery system is being developed that depends on
aerosol pressure and not electronics, for use in hospital to improve patient
treatment while avoiding the possible negative effects of an intermittent power
failure.
I am grateful to SCI for making possible the travel which facilitated this
opportunity to expand my scientific horizons, promote my research, and get
valuable input from scientists with a variety of perspectives. This input will
now help me to write a better thesis as I finish my PhD, and I look forward to
maintaining contact with these colleagues as I continue in science.
Annie Weeks
Cambridge University
|
