Dr. Ijad madisch created ResearchGATE which is a 'Facebook for scientists'. So far, ResearchGate has built a social network of more than 250,000 researchers from 196 countries.
One of the benefits of ResearchGate is that it is a centralized forum where people can ask questions or pose problems, and other scientists can answer them.
It's similar to starmind but for free!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Converting bitmap images to vector graphics for lithography
For presentations, I often show lithographically-made nanoscale images of logos, map of the USA, flowers, Mona Lisa, Obama pictures and other hard-to-make/creative designs!
While, in general, anybody doing lithography would show the usual lines or holes patterns and variations of it. So, I often get the question: "How did you make it? This is hard to draw in DXF (CAD) format!".
It's correct to say that it's hard to draw in DXF. But I don't draw them! I simply use high-resolution pictures on the web (raster graphics or bitmap) and convert the pictures to vector graphics.
To easily convert bitmap images to clean vector art, I use vector magic:
http://vectormagic.com/home
And voilà!
While, in general, anybody doing lithography would show the usual lines or holes patterns and variations of it. So, I often get the question: "How did you make it? This is hard to draw in DXF (CAD) format!".
It's correct to say that it's hard to draw in DXF. But I don't draw them! I simply use high-resolution pictures on the web (raster graphics or bitmap) and convert the pictures to vector graphics.
To easily convert bitmap images to clean vector art, I use vector magic:
http://vectormagic.com/home
And voilà!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Na Liu won the best female young physicist in Germany (Hertha-Sponer Prize 2010)
In Germany, one of the groups that have been very successful in advancing metamaterials research, besides Wegener's group, is Harald Giessen's group in Stuttgart. I had the opportunity of meeting Harald Giessen in San Diego in 2008.
The best known works, of Giessen's group, are on Stereometamaterials and the Plasmonic analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency at the Drude damping limit.
And, the work contribution is largely attributed to Na Liu's effort. As a reward, the Hertha Sponer Prize 2010 of the German Physical Society for the best female young physicist in Germany has been awarded to her for her research into metamaterials.
Na Liu is now in Alivisatos group in UC Berkeley.
And of course, Europe has once again been brain-drained!:)
The best known works, of Giessen's group, are on Stereometamaterials and the Plasmonic analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency at the Drude damping limit.
And, the work contribution is largely attributed to Na Liu's effort. As a reward, the Hertha Sponer Prize 2010 of the German Physical Society for the best female young physicist in Germany has been awarded to her for her research into metamaterials.
Na Liu is now in Alivisatos group in UC Berkeley.
And of course, Europe has once again been brain-drained!:)
Want visibility: Create professional websites!
Nowadays, there is such fierce competition that lab PIs want more visibility. One of the ways to achieve more visibility for your lab and to display a high level of professionalism is to create a professional website.
All the bosses that I have worked for so far have stressed this fact and all hired professionals to design their websites:
Prof Frank Watt's center for ion beam application website:
http://www.ciba.nus.edu.sg/
Prof. Herbert Moser's Singapore synchrotron light source website:
http://ssls.nus.edu.sg/
Prof. Sri Sridhar's websites:
http://sagar.physics.neu.edu/
http://www.igert.neu.edu/
A website is a window to the world and making it look outstanding will also reflect on members of the lab.
David R. Smith who is the pioneer for metamaterials or microwave metamaterials (to be more precise!) is the guy who understands this and makes sure that his website always shine! He takes the habit of constantly revamping his website:
http://people.ee.duke.edu/~drsmith/
and making sure that web surfers get the message.
He has also a new website for his center for metamaterials and integrated plasmonics at Duke:
http://metamaterials.duke.edu/
The website has a nice feed aggregator, which captures the latest breakthroughs of the photonics community.
All the bosses that I have worked for so far have stressed this fact and all hired professionals to design their websites:
Prof Frank Watt's center for ion beam application website:
http://www.ciba.nus.edu.sg/
Prof. Herbert Moser's Singapore synchrotron light source website:
http://ssls.nus.edu.sg/
Prof. Sri Sridhar's websites:
http://sagar.physics.neu.edu/
http://www.igert.neu.edu/
A website is a window to the world and making it look outstanding will also reflect on members of the lab.
David R. Smith who is the pioneer for metamaterials or microwave metamaterials (to be more precise!) is the guy who understands this and makes sure that his website always shine! He takes the habit of constantly revamping his website:
http://people.ee.duke.edu/~drsmith/
and making sure that web surfers get the message.
He has also a new website for his center for metamaterials and integrated plasmonics at Duke:
http://metamaterials.duke.edu/
The website has a nice feed aggregator, which captures the latest breakthroughs of the photonics community.
3D Magnetic EZ Antenna
After our breakthrough in super-resolution imaging, the other news which dominated the national scene is the electrically small and low-profile magnetic EZ Antenna by Richard Ziolkowski et al. [...] This work is a collaboration between the University of Arizona, Boeing Research and Technology, and NIST. To avoid being technical, this metamaterial-inspired, near-field resonant parasitic antenna has a much higher performance that other antennas with similar sizes.
And, quoting Christopher Holloway (NIST):
“The purpose of an antenna is to launch energy into free space. But the problem with antennas that are very small compared to the wavelength is that most of the signal just gets reflected back to the source. The metamaterial makes the antenna behave as if it were much larger than it really is, because the antenna structure stores energy and re-radiates it,”
The antennas developed by the group are printed on copper squares with sizes of only 65 millimeters. A Z-shaped element on their backs acts like a metamaterial, storing energy magnetically.
Image comment: This is the new. metamaterial-based antenna created by experts at NIST
Image credits: C. Holloway / NIST
Richard Ziolkowski is best known for his pioneering work, together with Ehud Heyman on wave propagation in media having negative permittivity and permeability [...]. While Minas Tanielian from Boeing is known for his 3D cubic arrangement of split ring resonators. On a personal note, besides being great researchers, Ziolkowski and Tanielian are very approachable and extremely efficient people.
And, quoting Christopher Holloway (NIST):
“The purpose of an antenna is to launch energy into free space. But the problem with antennas that are very small compared to the wavelength is that most of the signal just gets reflected back to the source. The metamaterial makes the antenna behave as if it were much larger than it really is, because the antenna structure stores energy and re-radiates it,”
The antennas developed by the group are printed on copper squares with sizes of only 65 millimeters. A Z-shaped element on their backs acts like a metamaterial, storing energy magnetically.
Image comment: This is the new. metamaterial-based antenna created by experts at NIST
Image credits: C. Holloway / NIST
Richard Ziolkowski is best known for his pioneering work, together with Ehud Heyman on wave propagation in media having negative permittivity and permeability [...]. While Minas Tanielian from Boeing is known for his 3D cubic arrangement of split ring resonators. On a personal note, besides being great researchers, Ziolkowski and Tanielian are very approachable and extremely efficient people.
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