The X-rays of the Synchrotron vs Rays of Intuitive Insight

Brad Burkhart Henrik Ohldag

Sculptor X-ray Researcher

Through some sort of serendipity, I will be working with Hendrik Ohldag who is an adjunct professor of physics at UCSC. He is one of the scientists participating in the UC Physics and Community Art Collaboration Project. Originally from Universität Düsseldorf in Germany where he obtained his doctorate, he has been as a researcher at the Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) since 1999. SLAC was built in 1962 and has been operated ever since by the US Department of Energy on Stanford University's Palo Alto campus.

SLAC was the first linear accelerator and is still one of only four in the world. It was originally designed to study high-energy atomic particles, and its lab was instrumental in the discovery of the Quark particle in the 1990's. However, after this discovery, research in particle physics shifted to several larger accelerators (e.g. the Hadron accelerator in Switzerland) and scientific inquiry began to focus on Dark Energy and Dark Matter in outer space.These two elements are now known to comprise 96% of all energy and matter in the universe.

As a result of this change, the lab has been repurposed about a decade ago to use very high-energy x-rays generated by the accelerator to study atomic-level structure of modern materials. Part of this work is performed in a laboratory called the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Light Source (SSRL). Essentially this technology is like using a very fast high-definition camera to study atomic and magnetic structure. Dr. Ohldag uses X-rays to study nanoscale (1 billionth scale) magnetism with picosecond (1 trillionth scale) time resolution in photos (see example photo of the magnetic structure of nickeloxide which forms beautiful so called magnetic domains based on a herring bone pattern) The goal of much of his research is directed toward increasing magnetic memory storage for large computer systems as a way to dramatically decrease the need for the high levels of electricity that are needed to constantly renew the memory of such systems.

1st Meeting

I first met Dr. Ohldag in mid-September at the SSRL lab. The exterior of the lab is shown in the photo above. Dr. Ohldag was able to give me a complete tour of the facility because the lab equipment is shut down in late summer for a two-month period of maintenance on this highly sensitive instrument. Also, below are pictures of the microscopy station that he will be using after moving to the Advanced Light Source synchrotron laboratory at the Lawrence Berkeley Nation Laboratory in September 2018.

During our visit I stretched my imagination to better understand what Hendrik was up to. Having majored in art and minored in physics in college, I had some background for understanding. I have also been inspired for a number of years by Art & Physics, a book by Dr. Leonard Schlain that puts forth the premise that artists often intuitively predict visually what scientists will later prove. Inspired by this idea, I have increasingly focused my art work on bridging the gap between art and science. Hendrik was excited about this idea. So we came up with several initial ways we would intuitively collaborate:

1. Sketches Inspired by Lab Work

I derive the images for my mythical/archetypal clay-relief panels from an intuitive sketching process. I never know what the final image will be until it is complete, but I have found that the setting in that the sketch is done will influence the outcome. Henrik told me he had a group of graduate students from Germany who would be joining him in research at his lab during November, and we decided that I would visit during this period and sit in the back of the lab and do a series of sketches which would later be translated into clay. Below is a picture of where I will be sitting behind the research station.

where I will sit

2. Sculptural Images As Creative Inspiration

Henrik and his wife plan to visit my sculpture studio during Open Studios Santa Cruz in October and select 1-3 of my pieces that speak to him. I will then mount his choices in his new lab in Berkeley. The two of us will discuss how the sculptures hanging in the lab might possibly be affecting his research.