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Name Etched on Human Hair
Caption:
A scanning electron microscope image reveals the word "Lauranne" etched onto a strand of human hair. Ms. Lauranne Lanz, a high school student who participated in a month-long summer internship in July 2002 at the NSF-supported Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Johns Hopkins University, performed the etching.
More about this Image
Working in the laboratory (and under the supervision) of Professor C. L. Chien, Director of the MRSEC at Johns Hopkins, her assignment was to use a focused laser beam as a dry etching tool. The apparatus she used involved a high-power, pulsed UV (excimer) laser, focusing lenses, and a computer-controlled, moveable sample stage. The laser beam is focused by lenses to a fine spot, and effectively performs dry etching by ablating material from the illuminated spot. Ms. Lanz wrote a computer program to control the lateral movement of the sample stage to trace out patterns or words of her design in a continuous manner with sub-micron resolution. Simultaneously, her computer program controlled the triggering pulses for the laser light so that each sub-pattern or letter could be separately written.
Ms. Lanz first etched patterns and words of increasingly smaller sizes onto flat surfaces. She then explored the feasibility of labeling gemstones for microscopic identification purposes. Finally, on her own initiative, she successfully etched her name onto a strand of her hair as shown in the image.
The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Johns Hopkins University supports an interdisciplinary research program on nanostructures with enhanced magneto-electronic properties. The research is carried out in one interdisciplinary research group, with appropriate seed projects. The center is engaged in a variety of educational activities, including Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Research Experiences for Teachers, an undergraduate fellow program and a high school teacher internship program. The Center supports well maintained shared experimental facilities that are accessible to outside users, and also supports interactive efforts within industry and other sectors.
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| Credit: |
Summer high school internship of Lauranne Lanz, Oalkand Mills High School, under the supervision of Prof. C.L. Chien, The Johns Hopkins University. |
| Year of Image: |
2002 |
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Categories:
MATERIALS RESEARCH / MRSECs
Formats Available:
Restrictions:
No additional restrictions--beyond NSF's general restrictions--have been placed on this image. For a list of general restrictions that apply to this and all images in the NSF Image Library, see the section "Conditions".
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