Monday July 16, 2007



Practice, practice practice. We are making three films each at a time. One of us will make four films and load the fourth into the X-Ray Reflectometer to determine the thickness.

If you would like to get an idea of how complicated the reflectometer is to use, reference the reflectometer procedure to the right. The adjustments to focus the beam take a great deal of time.


We floated and dropped and measured and calculated for hours. We also met with Dr. Russell, our supervising professor, to inform him of our accomplishments so far. Efren and I provided him with our blog addresses, and Dave explained the procedures we have used. Dr. Russell explained to us that the principle of the X-Ray reflectometer was the same as the principle we encounter when we look at an oil slick on water and see the colors - the white light gets broken up into different wavelengths as it passes through the oil and back out again. The X-Rays get redirected as they pass through the sample and emerge at different angles.