During May, in addition to the laser dermatome grant mentioned last month, another grant was submitted requesting funds for a piezoelectric nanopositioning stage to be utilized with the actual Near-Infrared NSOM instrument being developed. In conjunction with this grant, a preliminary dialogue has begun with Dr. Lance DeLong in the Physics department to collaborate on imaging some material samples currently being developed.
Finally, an experiment was discussed with Dr. Keith Whites in Electrical
Engineering to fully investigate the near-field focusing effect of
thin-wire samples within NSOM instruments seen in previously developed
NSOM models. Due to the simplicity of this experiment and the fact that
the majority of equipment is currently available, this experiment should
be completed by the end of the summer.