Welcome to Ponderomotive.com, and the first post on the blog, the main component of the site. My name is Spencer Jolly and I am currently a PhD student in Physics studying at The University of Hamburg, and working at DESY in the west of the city. DESY is a large facility that is one of the best in the world in the areas of particle acceleration, light-source physics, and has some of the most advanced light sources for users in the world.
I studied in Michigan, in Texas, and now in Germany and always did research on high-intensity laser-plasma interaction. Basically, shooting powerful lasers at gases! When I think now about how much I knew when I first started 6 years ago (or even one year ago…) I realize I have learned a lot. I will probably say the same thing about now in a few years, but I find myself thinking that this stuff is so cool and important that it needs to be communicated. This blog will try to do that job.
So, Ponderomotive.com is just that, a lasers blog, but also a physics and general science blog. I hope to add some more unique parts to the site in the future, but for now the blog is the main feature. I hope to write technical articles, general articles about recent results or otherwise, to filter and gather other science news every week, and rarely to express some views about how science interacts with the world at large. Hopefully this is without too much controversy.
In the beginning, there will be no strict schedule as I populate the blog slowly, but the plan is to trend towards regular content.
The technical articles will start out with a 16-part series on how a laser works, accessible to a range of audiences. I will also rate each article with how technical it really is so that no reader is scared away, but one also knows how worth it the article may be.
There will also be ‘soft’ articles meant to be very accessible, ‘filter’ articles of the weeks or months news, and historical or biographical articles. I foresee these which require more writing skill to be of evolving quality.
Please join me in an interesting new website with hopefully a unique perspective and a unique niche to cater to. I hope it finds all of my readers well and becomes something that contributes to our science knowledge and our view of science in some small positive way.