Week 6 July 3rd - 9th

So this week was a short one well I guess by one day because it was Independence Day!! I do love the 4^th of July. It was a great experience to see the fireworks in DC. I have seen the fireworks down there twice before but for some reason I liked them better this year. For anyone who lives in Maryland and close to the city of Laurel should go every year to their fireworks show. It is on the Saturday closest to the 4^th every year and it is an amazing show as well. I have been every year since I can remember. That is pretty much all the extra fun I had this week besides work of course.
Work was very productive this week. I was just taking data with the ellipsometer. Just a little background if I have never mentioned it before. Every week at NIST there is a group meeting and the interns who work in the group present a little bit about their project and get more help from all the advisors and people in the group. It is really helpful because two brains are smarter than one. This week I presented some of my data that I had collected and analyzed and was excited about. Dr. Cheung one of the other advisors noticed in my data that something was wrong. I am trying to measure the index of refraction for this thin film of iron on silicon and I was measuring the index of refraction as less than1 which it should never be. The interesting thing is that I took the numbers off the ellipsometer and didn’t have to do any calculation so we think that we need to recalibrate the machine. I am grateful that the people here are wanting to help us with our work. I am learning a lot on how to think when analyzing data and where to look to see if my data make sense. My personal advisor Dr. Nguyen got back today from being out of town and we are working on fixing the problem. It wouldn’t be a physics problem if it worked on the first time. It is getting more exciting for me when I come to work because I am understanding more and more everyday and learning a lot in this experience. I am making good progress and excited to see what comes next.
Tonight I am eager to go to the Giants vs. Nationals game. I don’t really like either team but I love baseball. It will be a fun night with the other interns and SPS staff.