Week 3 Blog

Monday 10JUN2024:

This week started by continuing with cutting, preparing, and imaging tungsten wires for use with the Centimani. It took a bit of time, but it still took less time to set up the wire cutting than it did last week. I was able to finish the day early due to having finished my tasks and went back to my apartment to study the Gcode script we’ve been using.

Tuesday 11JUN2024:

On Tuesday, after the program meetings and finding out that I have a new CI-mentor named Douglas, we were able to get back the metal plate made to hold multiple wires, meaning we could cut many more wires in a single run while also having a guideline to make set up easier. My mentor went over the changes that needed to be made to the code now that we had the metal plate back. I set up the code to make 20 cut wires from 4 uncut wires and, with the new script my mentor had coded for quickly checking wire alignment, was able to get the run started for tomorrow.

Wednesday 12JUN2024:

Wednesday was spent imaging the wires from both Monday and Tuesday to check how effective the new method was. It turned out really well, with almost all of the wires from Tuesday being viable. The wires from Monday, however, had an unusual error. For some reason, the tips were inverted, with the high and low points being reversed. I ended the day by gluing a new wire, since we were so close to our goal of 64 cut wires made by the end of the week.

Thursday 13JUN2024:

Thursday started with a visit to the Rice Coffee House with both of my mentors, Romain and Douglas. This was my first meeting with Douglas. We talked about our goals and fields of study, and I was able to relax a bit more since I was able to see them both outside of the lab. Once we got back to the lab, I glued more wires to the plate and ran them under the laser to be imaged the next day.

Friday 14JUN2024:

Friday was when we were able to meet our quota of 64 wires cut, with some to spare by the time all of them were imaged. Using some of the spare wires, Romain and I practiced putting the wires through the Nanoelectric Threads (NETs) and binding them together with an agarose gel known as PEG. I had also wanted to perform some wire maintenance on the Centimani, but we ran out of time, and it is now something I am looking forward to doing next week.

[End of post for Week 3]