~ Tong's META blog ~

a new postdoc fellow

2006-03-22T19:25:00.000-05:00

H, who just finished his Ph.D. in Spain, is joining our group. Now our office has a nice representation of nationalities, and I love that! He seems to be a nice guy, and to some extent, seems to be very much like A. I started to wonder whether all European guys are similar in some way. H has done research on Metamaterials and I look forward to his talk on this Friday's group meeting. H needs help with all aspects of settling down and getting around. Surprisingly, I seems to have already forgot how hard things were for me when I first got here. J and A were both very nice and offered lot’s of help.

A vs C

2006-03-23T18:38:00.000-05:00

There is an old Chinese saying that goes something like this: To achieve effectiveness you have to sharpen your tools first. D has a very good sense about this and therefore our group has the 3 commercial programs that are best in the field. So I am the one working on two of these three different programs trying to figure out which one is better.

W was here for a few days and I have been working closely with him on the comparison and validation of A and C. Both of these programs had pros and cons. Apparently, for me it is not easy to switch to a second program when I’ve already get used to one. I have a feeling that W will be a good instructor (as he has got the fat offer from BC), because he clearly explained several physics concepts to me and then chose to stop before it get to classified stuff.

The Toyota guy dropped by today and it seemed that he is also interested in C. Well, that’s fair enough, since A is far more expensive then C.

I like the way our desks are placed in my office. Often times, we would turn around from our desk to face each other and carry out conversations. One of the topics today was about future plans. Ironically enough, none of us are sure but all of us have big questions marks placed towards a career in academia. J said he is glad to know that he is not the only one. A and I share the same feelings. We all agreed that D is a nice guy, which is the positive side.

partial focus

2006-03-18T21:34:00.000-05:00

Today D came up with an experiment setup to achieve partial focus that HP wanted. He seemed to be excited and called in me and A to talk about the idea. I can't believe this is a Saturday afternoon. But nothing is more important than a new research idea, I guess.

Maybe taking a week off wasn't the greatest idea, 'cause I now need to catch up with all the work. We got visitors coming and it's going to be a busy week.

boeing sample

2006-03-02T23:28:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we received boeing sample. The sample looks very nice under the microscope. A simple try out showed it's actually working! B is going to do more experiment with it. I'm really glad that something I simulated now works great and gives a huge media ratio of ~120!

"the next generation"

2006-03-19T21:03:00.000-05:00

R, a new incoming student, got into contact with me. It seems like he has a strong background in metamaterials research. So I got to learn some terminologies.
evanescent wave amplification
chiral metamaterial
unusual energy transmission
double refraction

antenna project

2006-03-06T21:49:00.000-05:00

Today D gave me a book titled Phased array antenna handbook. He had the idea of apply metamaterials to the design of phased antenna arrays and thought it might be a good thesis project for me. Although I think it would be best for me to decide a project ASAP, I plan to do some background research before I decide whether to take it.

group meeting with D2 presenting

2006-03-10T23:21:00.000-05:00

The name of Eistein always makes things exciting. Today I again practiced my appreciation to basic concepts in physics.

Rayspan visit

2006-03-09T23:20:00.000-05:00

MIMO and other telecommunication stuff... "the last frontier", pretty interesting. It sounds like physicists and engineers will make great partnership.

jelly fish

2006-03-08T23:50:00.000-05:00

10 things to get your research to the market

2006-02-28T15:37:00.000-05:00

Top 10 recommendations for bringing research advances to market: [source]

Opportunities for commercialization abound at universities. Take stock of the possibilities afforded by your research efforts.
Once you have an idea, ask yourself: Is it really that good? Remember that markets (and investors) will ultimately decide.
The science does not speak for itself. Rather, successful invention depends on interdisciplinary relationships founded on trust and respect. It's all about the team.
Avoid unnecessary complications by being completely open and honest with everyone involved up front.
Keep in mind that there are many sources of capital – venture capital firms, corporate investors, and – perhaps most importantly -- individuals.
Don't miss opportunities by holding out for the "perfect deal".
Plan carefully. While conflict of interest is a reality of entrepreneurship, the vast majority of all conflicts can be managed.
Be the champion of your technology. Do as much as you can to understand the commercialization process, rather than expecting others to do it for you.
Once a company is licensed, stay involved. A good way to do this is to "send someone over"– for example, a postdoc or a faculty member on sabbatical.
Don't over-think it. No one can predict which inventions will turn out to be the winners.

Also recommended: The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas Friedman, a book about globalization.

group meeting with J presenting

2006-02-24T23:54:00.000-05:00

Today we had our first group meeting. The idea of group meeting was suggested by A and me. I think it is a good way for the group members to communicate, and a great opportunity for everyone to practice their oral presentation skills. D was open-minded enough to gladly accept the idea.
We talked about some of the projects I am working on. When asked about the simulations at optical frequencies, D suggested that B might have similar interests. D also strongly believes in FEMlab, which I have just started to learn. I do think that I should choose an appropriate thesis project and start to focus, because just like every Ph.D. student, I want to get out in a reasonable amount of time. I am still waiting for a better opportunity to talk to D about this.
On the meeting, J presented his Ph.D. project - tunable microwave frequency transmission lines featuring CSSR structure and layer of ferromagnetic materials. It is a quite interesting topic and can be applied to a wide variety of applications.
J is one year senior than me and has the intelligence of understanding physics concepts in depth. When trying to transfer to Duke Physics, he was asked to take a bunch of classes and a serious of exams, which he denied, so he is still a UCSC physics student. It is really nice to have someone like J in your office, someone that you can turn to at any time for any type of questions. This weekend, he went back to Santa Cruz for his family and girlfriend. I am sure he will enjoy the trip.

Resonance - the analogies

2006-02-21T16:34:00.000-05:00

Today, as I was trying to understand what happens with the EM fields in a resonance structure, J showed me some very fun stuff on forced oscillations of a mass hanging on a spring. When the driving frequency is slightly higher than the oscillation frequecy, even though the mas and the driving point is moving out of phase, energy is still building up in the system. That's exactly where the negative region comes into play. A mass hanging on the spring, LC circuits, and metamaterials, all resonate, to certain extend, in the same way. In EM, the phase shift from 0 to pi is enough to create a brand new area where negative-index becomes a hot topic. Isn't it amazing how the easy concepts can be applied to very complicated applications? Not being a physics major, I still so very much appreciate the beauty of these very basic concepts that drive science and technology. I feel much better about the colorful field plots now.

Team EXEL Awarded the 2005 Descartes Research Prize

2005-12-02T13:46:00.000-05:00

The EXEL team received the 2005 Descartes Research Prize for developing a new class of artificial meta-materials, called Left-Handed Materials or Negative Index Materials, which have the ability to overturn many familiar properties of light. For details, see Prof. David Smith's home page.
Here is an article reported by Pratt News.