Raphael Wong
From the trash heap to cutting edge science, that’s the kind of work that kept Biomedical Engineering Technology student Raphael Wong busy all summer at BCIT. The burning question: how do you make an affordable shutter for lasers that require speed and precision well beyond most commercially available solutions, and at the same time reduce waste from high tech gadgets?
Working with researcher and instructor Jim Booth (BCIT Physics), Raphael was tasked with building a set of high-speed laser shutters from broken miniature hard drives destined for landfills. These shutters will be integrated into Dr. Booth’s larger research program which explores the control and manipulation of cold atoms using lasers and magnetic fields. A current goal of this program is developing novel sensor applications for confined gas clouds. When installed and tested, the shutters will play an integral role, turning lasers on and off to make finely tuned adjustments as experiments demand.
