Make some Noise!!

Deaf dumb and blind kid, sure plays a mean interferometry 

Today was good day in the lab, we managed to take some data for the noise. Progress comes sure but slow. 

Afterwards I tried to meet up with Aunt Julie and Luke for a picnic, but ended up just having one on the lawn of Deutsch with everyone I could find. 

"Excuse me while I kiss the sky."

-Jimi Hendrix

Work Family Friends, Repeat.

"Steam rollers run shit over to make sure it's good. Like if they want to test a product, they'll run over it with a steam roller. How do you know the steam roller's good? Who ran over the steam roller?"

-Mitch Hedberg

Thought I'd start off with the quote today, because it's very apropos to my work right now. We are making interferometers on interferometers on interferometers. Like the hip song Racks on Racks on Racks, but more of a mouthful. (Got ya. No I couldn't really put that song on here, it just wouldn't fit with the whole good music thing I have going.) So we have the one originally built with a frequency stabilized laser that will shit 1 part per million of a frequency over a whole month. Yeah thing's legit. Then we have a less good laser that is used in a Mach-Zenhder interferometer so we can tell the noise is really due to the target and not the optical equipment we run it through. Then, once we have the appropriate number of beam-splitters, we'll split the frequency stabilized laser and use it to form a Michelson interferometer. This will provide a baseline amount of noise. No matter what we do, that noise, or inaccuracy, will be in our measurement because it's the super stabilized laser on the super stabilized optical table. We will also cover this up, to minimize wind effects (when you deal with ten nanometers, they're important) and cover up the laser and interferometers putting the latter in a vacuum chamber so nothing is really moving and seeing how accurate we can make everything. And that's what we have to work on for the next two weeks. Game on. 

In other news, my buddy Steven Thorn, author of The Phoenix Guardian, available here on amazon, has been visiting me. We did Paris right. He got in on Friday, and after settling in, we went and saw the Notre Dame plus Shakespeare and Co. Then it was time to hit the hay, because Saturday was Bastille Day. On saturday, my poor navigating ability ensured that we didn't see much of the parade, but we did see the helicopters flying over the Louvre. Which was pretty awesome. Then we got lunch at a quick little bistro thing, I had some pasta, it was good. From there, we went off to the Louvre and saw too much art. Then it was time to picnic and watch the fireworks next to the Eiffel tower. Mir got some really good photos of everything, and he stood with the Eiffel between him and the fireworks, which is probably the way you're supposed to see it, but o well, I enjoyed myself. There was quite the interesting walk home, let me tell you. For sunday, Steven and I went to mass at the Notre Dame. Incroyable. Then off to Invalides to pay Napoleon a visit, and then up to the Sacre Coeur, with a quick stop at the Arc d'Triomphe in between. I gotta say, I was more impressed with the Arc this time as opposed to last year, and I don't really know why. Maybe I knew what to expect more. Also the guard for the tomb thing that's there changed while we there. Not as cool as the Tomb of the Unknown back home ('Merica) but it was still kind of cool to watch it. Then we went to Zango's for dinner, and it was it's usual fantastic stuff. Then gelato for dessert, and the Eiffel tower to cap it all off. It was beautiful up there, and it was great chatting with Mr Thorn. I always enjoy our discussions. (You sound like you're from London!) 

Aunt Julie and Luke got in today, so I briefly saw them, and outlined the good sights to see and we went and got dinner. It was great to see them and share any knowledge I could. 

.... I don't know how to end without a quote. 

Work work work

Sorry, it's been a while

Alright let's get to it. Work has been going very well the past couple of days, and that's for a very specific reason. We've actually had things to do. At the same time, it hasn't been overwhelming and we've normally had about half a day off each day. It's nice, but still wish I could be doing some thing more. So think back on the interferometer I've described previously. What we've done was replace the target with a more manufactured version on the same target. We finally got it back and had set it up. However the motor is right next to the target in this version, and causes it to shake rather violently. This means that the fringes go haywire for a split second every time you try to move the target. So our program would not work for stabilizing it. What we did instead on Tuesday, was set up a millitron, which looks like a metal finger that you set on the target and it reads displacements of up to a micron. Then we tried to rotate the target around so that we could see how much it wobbled, and try to stabilize it using the picomotors attached to the mount. This did not produce the results we wanted, and we discovered the screw holding the target in place on the mount, actually would be shaken out of the mount because of the vibrations in the motor. We replaced it with a bigger screw to ensure it would no longer do that. Then during lunch, we talked to Antonin about our problems with the stabilization, and he described a much simpler process to use then we had thought of. See the target mount has three points, one of them is fixed, the other two are controlled by the picomotors and these adjust the angle. If we set the points to be exactly equal, then the wobble should disappear. So we measured the position of the fixed point with the millitron, then turned it to the next point, and so on and so forth until we could stabilize the thing. Unfortunately, even using this simple method we could not get it to work. We then realized that the problem was the fixed screw kept jostling out of place. So we got thread glue and stuck it back in there and it didn't move any more. Then we were able to stabilize it and watch its rotation barely move by shooting the beam of the laser to a point on the wall and seeing that it didn't precess at all. Which is what the last target had done. However after we got the fringes back from the interferometer, we realized that the vibrations of the motor made it impossible to use that program to stabilize it any more, and it's nowhere near as stable as it would need to be if we were trying to generate attosecond pulses off of it. So in short, the homegrown version was much better. We spent Wednesday morning reassembling it, and stabilizing it. It works so much better and smoother than the manufactured version it's not even funny. In my down times at work, I've been reading the Dark Tower III book: The Waste Lands. It's quite an interesting read and raises some interesting questions. I'm excited to see how it turns out.

In my down times back home, I've been wondering around Paris. On Tuesday, I read at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore, which is across the river from Notre Dame and offers a lovely view when one tires of the page. I'm going to spend way too much money there. I think I might buy Finnegan's Wake there, even though I may never read it. It's a crazy book. Also people like to dance around the edges of the Seine at night, I discovered. One of the girls who works with Mir is done after this week, and she had a picnic at the banks of the Seine under Notre Dame. It was beautiful, all lit up in the night, and the angle we had to look at it was incredible. Also booked my trip to Prague on Tuesday. Visit the homeland. Then yesterday, Jay and Drew and I went to dinner at another Mexican food place near Bastille. It was good, but different from the first one. Also got some gelato after it and wondered down to Quai de la Gare. Once on a bridge across the Seine, the sun was going down and you could see Notre Dame and it looked absolutely beautiful.

"I am the Walrus."
- John Lennon

No you're not.

Weekend Update with Caleb Holt

There is a house in New Orleans.

So Friday I went to a French barbecue with Mathieu. It was a lot of fun actually. There was plenty of wine bread and sausages. But that was about it. It was cool to see how they interacted in that type of setting. Another view into the culture. There was a very well-spoken (read spoke good english) Frenchman who wanted to go to Harvard or somewhere in the states, which is why he spoke so well. And most of them could speak enough English for us to converse. There was one Italian guy who was quite well off who kept ending his sentences in You Know?! More food for my american friend, You Know?! (I didn't complain about this.)

On saturday, I took it easier and saw some sights I had neglected. I saw Les Invalides and Napoleon's tomb. The tomb part was super cool. Napoleon was ridiculously cocky though apparently, which is what makes it so much fun to visit. The church there too was also very cool, although the tomb was much more impressive. Then I visited Rodin's gardens, which were awesome. I like one artist museums much more I've decided than collections. However collections allow you to see much more of a variety. Going through people's life is just really cool.

Sunday I tried to go to Lauds with Drew at Sacre Coeur. Unfortunately the internet led us astray again, so we just took in the basilisk then wandered around...wherever we were. There was an open air market that went on forever. I finally got the pair of Lennon sunglasses I've been searching for. I'm quite pleased. Then we chilled an took it easy the rest of the afternoon. For dinner we (Zak, Drew, and I) went to Zango's again. Love that place. There was an acoustic band this time. Quite good. 


Monday work we actually did something. Got the new target set up and the fringes look good. It was so nice to be back in the lab aligning things. It's weird how much that can frustrate me, and how much I can enjoy it when it works. Then the rest of the morning we took it easy and heard a talk. It was interesting, about second order harmonics for something. I didn't really pay too much attention (obviously). After lunch we hooked up the driver which turns the target, but the motor of the new target shakes it so much we can't even use the program we originally had. Which leads me to believe that the original set-up worked much better. However we still have to try to minimize the wobble to prove that the original works.


"So it goes."
-Kurt Vonnegut

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.

Happy Fourth everyone. (it's a day late I know)

I really like how this video was shot in Paris. Apparently the Boss is performing here the fourth and fifth but I couldn't get tickets. 

Work has been slow still. Waiting on people to build things takes a while. Least I can read.

Yesterday, in order to celebrate the fourth correctly, the Señor and I went to Hard Rock Cafe and got some good bar-b-que. It hit the spot, let me tell you. Afterwards we saw Spider-Man. It was a lot of fun. A very entertaining and well-done movie, although some parts could have used more work. It felt a little rushed sometimes. But I still really enjoyed it. 

"You rascally rabbit." 

-Elmer Fudd 

Paris is Beautiful.

Had to put this song on here.

Work update first. The motor we're working on to compare to the motor of the target we already have is progressing smoothly. Just by other people. Three mechanics are working on it, we just go around and talk to them, make sure things are working. We had a scare with the pico motors but it turns out to be all good, as we just messed with the setting of the joystick that controls them. We got to see the new motor and target modeled on a computer by Gregory and it looks sweet. For the rest of the day, Mathieu and I taught Matt math. It was slow going because both Mathieu and I had forgotten how little math we knew in the 11th grade. Derivatives aren't too complex of a concept but knowing what defines a function and a limit are definite pre-requisites we forgot to cover before delving into the subject.

Whenever I first got here, I thought the Parisians must just have their jaw dropped all the time with how beautiful their city is, but that's clearly not the case or the stereotype of a frenchman would be someone gawping all the time instead of being a douche bag (which I don't know how they got because I really haven't had a problem with that, yeah there have been a select few, but that's anywhere). But now that I've been here for a month (crazy how that happens), I've realized they just get used to it. However, I'm trying my best to not have that happen to me by constantly reminding myself I AM HERE. It's nice too because I can just wander the side streets and take in what they have to offer which admittedly isn't much, but it's still cool I can do that and not be tourist-y about it and have to hurry to see the sights.

Oh and Paris still takes my breath away. Thank God. I must be crazy when I can keep it.

"Naaa, na na nanaNA, nanaNA, Hey Jude."
-Paul McCartney

The Monster Reviews Arras

Main Square Music Festival success!

But first work-related stuff. So after setting up the interferometer, work has been kind of slow. We've got most of it figured out, but to show how effective the home-made target system is, we're going to test it against a more manufactured model. Right now my workdays consist of traveling around with the two French Mathieu's and talking to the mechanics (rather listening to the mechanics and Mathieus talk as they only speak French). So far, we progress little by little.

Arras time!
Drew Chrissy and myself arrived around 6 in the afternoon of Friday for Arras. After a walk to the campsites and retrieval of bracelets for the festival, we set up the tent quickly and then went to see the music, after joining up with Kierstin and Zak. We listened to some of garbage, and then Mir arrived, so I showed him where the tents were. Here's my thoughts on the artists. (Kind of a long and tedious list, so don't read if you don't care.)

Friday
Garbage (19:30)- They were older than I thought they were, but they put out a good sound. Not exactly my style of music and the lead singer's pants were distracting.


Brigitte (20:45)- Very French. But a lot of fun too. Two girls sang and they had very coordinated movements.

Kasabian (21:15)- They were the first real rock band. Very entertaining to watch. Good times had by all.

The XX (23:10)- Too chill for their own good. Good music, good vibes, but not exciting enough to headline.

Justice  (01:10) Fantastic. I don't normally like DJ shows, but the beats and the lights were incredible. I'd forget there were other people around.

Chase and Status (2:10)- Fun show, but the best song was a cover of Killing in the Name of. Good cool-down after the might of justice.

Saturday
Skip the Use (15:05)- Very british, very punk, very fun.

Rain delay (~16:30-17:10)
not real, but for us, yes.

Miles Kane (18:00)- Good stuff, the songs just kind of sounded the same after a while.

The Kooks (18:05)- Very british again. Very nice.

Florence+The Machine (19:35)- Incredible. Everything I hoped for. Florence brought the sun out, she was fun and lively and despite what Zak says, I enjoyed her crowd interactions. Her voice is incredible. I wanted to sing along, but felt I shouldn't out of respect. It was that good. Also her performance passed by so quickly for me because of how much I enjoyed it.

Pearl Jam (21:30)- One of the best rock bands brought the rock. Even though, I'm not too familiar with their stuff, they were great showmen and had great stuff. Lot of fun.

Birdy Nam Nam (00:10)- Again a DJ show, but there were four of them, and it was incredible. The lights weren't as good as Justice, but the beats were incredible (I guess you can do that with four people).

Sunday
The All-American Rejects (15:10)- Fun concert. Definitely one of the more American feeling shows. Only drawback, they led with their proverbial left by opening with Dirty Little Secret. Just seems like a bad idea.

Michael Kiwanuka (15:15)- Surprise find of the festival. Good old fashioned grooves and blues type stuff. I really enjoyed his show.

Gaz Coombes (15:45)- Would have liked them more if I could have figured out what they were about.

Wiz Khalifa (17:20)- Great concert and show. Lot of fun, and he seemed to really enjoy himself which helps. Also kept giving shout outs to his band which was very nice of him, I thought.

Noah and the Whale (18:05)- Probably would have really enjoyed them, but I was anxious to see Incubus.

Incubus (19:00)- Great show. It was nice to know most of the songs again. I had fun with it, I just wish the crowd was more into it.

The Mars Volta (21:15)- My second favorite show (first was Florence). They were just feeling it and went crazy on stage for the whole time. Tons of fun, even though I didn't recognize any of the songs. Also produced my favorite quote from the festival. The lead singer came out and declare "I'm here to eat your cheeseburger ass. That's right, your ass is made of cheeseburgers. Now bend over and let me take a bite!"

Blink-182 (22:50)- Good for the first couple of songs, then I remembered why anyone only listens to them in middle school. Cause they just sound whiney. So we left.

M83 (23:10)- Good vibes, but we were tired, so we went to bed so we could get up at 4:30. (We being Zak and myself, as we were the only ones brave enough to handle three days of Arras goodness.)

For a quote see the one from the Mars volta.