So it’s been what, a little less than two months since I last posted? I tend to work on many projects at once - some are ones I’ve been plugging away at for a while, while others are “let’s see what happens” experiments that I work on when I get the time, motivated by some half-brained idea. In particular, I’ve made significant progress on a project of the latter category, and the month-and-a-half has been spent making samples, furiously taking and analyzing data, trying to figure out what it means/delving through the literature, &c. - and of course, effectively disrupting any prospects of sleep or studying for pesky standardized tests. And making headway on my other projects, too. The good news is that I, for one, find the data pretty exciting.
(Oh, and moving to my sweet new apartment, which apparently scores a very respectable 98/100 on the walkability scale. Not too bad, especially given the relatively low rent.)
Anyway, when I haven’t been concentrating on my research, I’ve been reading up on things like organic semiconductors and STM modification of molecules (I suppose what one could call ‘hard’ condensed matter measurements of ’soft’ materials, although admittedly some of my own research falls into this genre). I find people like Paul Chaikin, Heinrich Jaeger and George Gruner particularly fascinating since they seem to be actively doing this kind of research in addition to hard condensed matter physics of the more ‘traditional’ kind (superconductivity/correlated electron systems…). I wonder how many other PIs do this kind of thing?
And of course, two new additions to the reading list: “charge transfer on the nanoscale: current status“, and “electrostatic modification of novel materials” - both hefty reviews of topics relevant to this post.
Also: Heinzel’s book on mesoscopic physics is a new addition to my list of the greatest books of all time - in particular, its clarity is unmatched by many other books I’ve come across on the subject.
3 responses so far ↓
Ψ*Ψ // August 5, 2007 at 1:15 am
Organic semiconductors are, um, fun. At least on the chemistry end of things. I’ve never done any other work I’ve enjoyed as much.
Sujit // August 5, 2007 at 11:43 am
I bet. I feel like a lot of really exciting stuff is going on in the chemistry world that I really ought to know more about.
Ψ*Ψ // August 5, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Same with physics here. I just don’t have enough background to be familiar with it. (Thus the interest in your blog.)
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