Author Topic: guess what this is  (Read 4980 times)

guess what this is
on: May 09, 2006, 23:57:44 PM
I wonder if anyone can tell me what this is (I know of course)

except shakey, he is banned from answering


Re:guess what this is
Reply #1 on: May 10, 2006, 00:10:35 AM
Yes, I see what it is.

guess what this is
Reply #2 on: May 10, 2006, 00:28:19 AM
really? it looks pretty slick and well made but i got no idea what the hell it is lol

guess what this is
Reply #3 on: May 10, 2006, 01:18:29 AM
an stm?

  • Offline Serious

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Re:guess what this is
Reply #4 on: May 10, 2006, 01:44:59 AM
Quote from: soopahfly
Yes, I see what it is.


Yep, youre right!  8)

  • Offline bear

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guess what this is
Reply #5 on: May 10, 2006, 03:43:11 AM
lighter ?

guess what this is
Reply #6 on: May 10, 2006, 05:01:46 AM
motor piston with laser guided aged gouda adapter.

Duh. :smack:

Re:guess what this is
Reply #7 on: May 10, 2006, 06:29:40 AM
PAC Man with a gun in his mouth?

:lol:

Re:guess what this is
Reply #8 on: May 10, 2006, 09:31:13 AM
well Maximus and Snellgroves suggestions are ammusing, but Deltazero is right

Its the benchtop STM (Scanning Tunnelling Microscope) which I am using for my final year project at uni.

guess what this is
Reply #9 on: May 10, 2006, 09:34:22 AM
I win then?

  • Offline SteveF

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Re:guess what this is
Reply #10 on: May 10, 2006, 11:18:34 AM
yeah a very low budget STM.  I have the exact same one on my desk at work :)

Cutting the platinum wires is such a pain in the ass so I usually just go use the AFM across in chemistry and switch the heads over.

Re:guess what this is
Reply #11 on: May 10, 2006, 12:05:48 PM
yeah its pretty cheap for an STM, still better than the "digital microscope" which they presented me with for my 3rd year project though. Lets just say it had "Matel" stamped on the bottom! We gave up on it pretty quickly, just got an old optical microscope and clamped my Nikon Coolpix to the eyepiece, worked much better!

Yes Delta, you win, here are some of the forum cookies which I swiped when Serious wasnt looking

  • Offline SteveF

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Re:guess what this is
Reply #12 on: May 10, 2006, 12:14:26 PM
yeah its a pretty useful bit of kit.  You wouldnt publish anything using it but its great for quickly checking something or working out what the hell is going on with a surface.  Managed to get the machine youre using down to atomic resolution on gold and pretty close to atomic on silicon so it can be done with careful tip preperation :).  The only issue with that machine at those scales is the materials change so much with even a ray of light hitting them because theres no thermal regulation/ultra high vacuum.

What are you measuring by the way?

If you ever need a high end image/test doing just shout - got access to a lot of nice toys and no problem to book some time on them if its any use to you...

On a related theme, can you guess what this is?


Sorry taking with phone and no software to resize it on this machine...

Re:guess what this is
Reply #13 on: May 10, 2006, 13:06:13 PM
well thats deffinitly some sort of UHV setup, Id guess you have a rather more funky STM than mine in there? maybe some other toys as well but my experience in this area is pretty limited so far.

Were trying to image molecules at the solid/liquid interface. Basically trying to get hydrocarbons to adsorb onto the surface of graphite and then image them, its proving pretty challenging. Weve got pretty good atomic resolution on the graphite substrate but the hydrocarbons are proving elusive.

Im waiting on an answer from one of the profs at Nottingham to see if I can get onto a PhD in Nanoscience next year, so fingers crossed I might get to play with some more flashy toys in the future. Theyve got a very cool one here which has a transparent tip, allowing near field optical and STM at the same time with the same instrument.

Re:guess what this is
Reply #14 on: May 10, 2006, 13:25:06 PM
Quote from: SteveF
yeah a very low budget STM.  I have the exact same one on my desk at work :)


What do you do, out of interest?

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