Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Lenox Laser Helps Uncover Archimedes Palimpsest.

Intensive efforts are underway to uncover centuries-old hidden writings of Greek mathematician Archimedes. Researches at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) are utilizing advanced X-ray technology to uncover writings of Archimedes once completely unknown. Discovered in 1906 by then-Professor J.L. Heiberg of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, the hidden text appeared within historical monastic prayer documents. The ancient practice of washing text away to make reuse material is called "Palimpsesting".

The Archimedes Palimpsest writings lingered unseen for centuries, seemingly purged from the documents forever, until Professor Heiburg began to review small scrawls beneath the visible text. At SLAC, a revolutionary modern analysis of the writing medium has been made - revealing they do contain historically important information left behind by Archimedes, Hidden from the naked eye.

When confronted with an engineering challenge involving their Synchrotron X-Ray source, SLAC issued a request to Lenox Laser to produce microscopic laser-drilled holes in thin Tungsten film. These small apertures would prove critical to the team's success in uncovering the Palimpsest's "hidden treasure".

Using a new X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) technique, the team at SLAC, along with other collaborations, revealed writings involving mathematics and science once hidden for more than 1000 years. Conservation scientists are referencing this experiment to encourage similar new endeavors. Could many more documents in historical collections today hold hidden texts currently unknown? Time and Technology will tell.

The SLAC experiment has proven successful, and the story was featured on several prominent news and documentary programs. The Archimedes Palimpsest rests at the Walter's Art Gallery in Baltimore, MD - continuously monitored by preservation professionals, and studied regularly by scholars from around the world.

NASA's STEREO Mission

A close up of loops in a magnetic active region, observed by STEREO's SECCHI/EUVI telescope. This powerful active region, observed here on Dec. 4, 2006 produced a series of intense flares over the next few days. Credit: NASA
 NASA's recent STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) project is a mission to capture the sun in three dimensions. The two-year long project involves having two near-identical telescopes (one ahead of earths' orbit and one behind) to record the behavior of the sun, studying phenomena like coronal mass ejections.
Lenox Laser fabricated custom parts for the government and provided consulting services in support of testing the focus setting of one of the STEREO instruments during satellite integration at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

Lenox Laser's role was critical to a successful test. As a result, Lenox Laser was awarded the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Instrument Systems and Technology Division 2006 Contractor Team Spirit Award.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Introduction to Young's Double-slit Experiment

Lenox Laser Young's Double Slit
The double slit experiment, thought to have been first performed by English scientist Thomas Young circa 1800, generally refers to an experiment in which light is allowed to diffract through slits which produces fringes, or wave-like interference patterns on an opposing screen.

A similar experiment was performed by Claus Jonsson of the University of Tubingen where beams of electrons showed similar interference patterns. The results of this experiment are often taken as evidence of the “wave-particle duality” predicted by quantum physics. (a.k.a. Englert-Greenberger duality)

In the case two pinholes are used instead of slits, as in the original Young’s experiment, hyperbolic fringes are observed. This is because the difference in paths traveled by the light from the two sources is a constant for a fringe which is the property of a hyperbola. If the two sources are placed on a line perpendicular to the screen, the shape of the interference fringes is circular as the individual paths traveled by light from the two sources are always equal for a given fringe.

It is little wonder that the experiment performed by Dr. Jonsson (
Young’s Double Slit applied to the interference of single electrons) ranks first in the list of the top ten most beautiful experiments as chosen by the readers of Physics World magazine.

For more information on this topic please visit http://www.lenoxlaser.com/