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Kyle Sikkema - Nearing The End


You could hear a pin drop in the Lab the week of July 4th; It was quiet week but a productive week for
me. Almost everyone was out for vacation and celebration, but the calm gave me the time to advance
my primary literature reading, helping me analyze our experiments from another angle. I watched
firework shows in town and attended a few car shows. Freedom was in the Michigan air on the 4th
(displayed below).


This past weekend, I also went to another signature car show that is held annually in downtown Ann Arbor.
They closed off 3 busy streets and filled them with cars ranging from antique automobiles and modern
sports cars. I was most impressed by this firetruck red late 2nd gen camaro stock car.


Beyond the cars, I have a huge update on my laser experiment. This week, Grace and I focused on
realigning the optics setup to eliminate the back reflection of the laser that was being projected from the
two ends of the rubidium cell (wrapped in orange heat tape and supported with white electrical tape, in
picture below). After essentially disregarding the back reflection information, which was not what we
were looking for, Grace and I found a small signal on the data graph from the Oscilloscope (O-scope).
The O-scope takes in light and reads the intensity of the electrical signal as time varies in the experimental
setting. Finding the small signal on the data graph was a eureka moment, for we had finally found the
“scattered light” from the rubidium and laser interaction! Half of the battle with this experiment is obtaining this signal,
and we finally have a reading that has been deemed valid by Grace’s confident reassurance.
Fueled by the excitement of our breakthrough, I translated the results on my poster for EXP night!





^Here’s a picture of the rubidium cell through a night vision scope on the left. The bright green areas are from the
laser light. On the right is the cell as it ordinarily appears. Both are pictures of the same thing.
After logging the data translated by the O-scope, Grace taught me about magnification with lenses
(valuable physics knowledge), and explained the importance of amplifying or minimizing a signal to one’s desire.
Next week is my final opportunity to collect rich data and make adjustments to finesse our setup and
continue changing variables for adjustments/developments in the signal of the scattered light. Grace is
nearly done digesting and interpreting the French paper. Research takes time, and you must be dedicated
to diving into analysis to advance your approach to the problems you are trying to solve.
Also, Mr. Bright completely surprised me last week by paying me a visit at my lab. He had hinted to me about
his possible visit soon, and I was completely oblivious to it! He gave me the most genuine surprise visit of my life,
and it was a blessing to see him in Ann Arbor. I gave him a tour of the lab and we went out to lunch with Alex Baum.
Unfortunately, Mr. Bright had to catch a flight in the early afternoon, so I didn't get a chance to show him everything,
but I was so happy to see him and excited to share my experience with him. Shoutout to you CB, you're the man.

It’s hard to believe that my time in Michigan is almost over. I have made so many new friends in the lab,
on the court, on the streets, and even in the grocery store. Stay tuned for the grand finale this Friday.

All good - KRS.
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