Work
What I did today:
Today we continued attempting to use the laser to get rough measurement of the Transmittance and Reflection, but it quickly became clear that our goal would no longer be possible. By late-morning, our Research Engineer pointed out that the lab temperature had swung by more than four degrees Celsius over just a few hours, effectively nullifying the alignment we’d just completed.
After this, we decided it was lunch break time.
Once back in the lab, my graduate-student mentor concluded that wrestling further with the erratic laser would only eat up valuable time without guarantee of success. He suggested that a better use of my time would be to continue my simulation work. He introduced me to Ansys Lumerical’s scripting environment and encouraged me to begin coding a series of parameter sweeps. He warned that this method (actually writing code vs. using Ansys Lumericals user interface), had more of a learning curve, especially since Ansys Lumerical has its own coding language which seems to be an mixture of MATLAB and C++.
Notes about working in France:
Today, the research group we usually eat lunch with was having a BBQ, they invited us to join them which was a lot of fun. They were very welcoming and offered us food, drinks and amazing conversations. I made a lot of connections and simply enjoyed being outside.
Moreover, little to none were talking about work. Rather than discussing project deadlines or conference schedules, most talked about random topics; anything from the different moans tennis players make to, different parks to explore. This is something I really appreciated because it made it so easy to connect with people as people. This is something rarely experience in the US, specifically in terms of connecting with faculty, due to the more rigid/strict student-faculty hierarchy.
One cultural difference that stood out was the casual drinking. Most people had drinks in their hands, whether that be a beer, a glass of wine, etc. In fact, many people offered drinks to those around them. This is very different from the US, where drinking during a lunch break is negatively. It reinforced for me how food and drink can bridge formalities, turning a simple lunch break into an opportunity for genuine connection.
What I plan to do tomorrow:
Over the coming days, I’ll familiarize myself with Lumerical’s script editor, write modular code for automated sweeps