Anyways, I'll dive right into the research! I'm working under Prof. Song Myoung Hoon, or in Korean 송명훈 교수님. His research field is focused on polymer based optoelectronic devices, organic semiconductor lasers, and photonic devices using liquid crystals. I'm currently working on the polymer based optoelectronic devices; specifically with organic light emitting diodes (OLED) and solar cells. Through this past week, I've been working with the other USURF student in our lab in making some OLEDs as well as reading papers that our lab has published and other papers related to OLEDs. I'm not going to go into great detail as to what an OLED is (partly because I'm still learning the science behind them...) but basically an OLED is a light emitting device that uses organic materials as the electroluminescent layer. Different types of polymers produce a variety of different light colors when subjected to an electrical current. I'm currently working with this polymer mixture solution called 'Super Yellow' (what an awesome name!) which produces a greenish light. OLEDs are used in TV screens, computer monitors, and smaller devices such as phone or iPod screens. One of the advantages of OLEDs over LCDs is that OLEDs don't require a back-light which allows the overall device to be thinner. However, OLEDs aren't as efficient at producing light compared to regular LEDs and LCDs because it's a very new type of technology. And that's why my research is with OLEDs! Hopefully I'll be able to significantly aid my lab in their research!
I guess I should describe more about the people in my lab. There are nine people in my lab including the professor; two graduate students, two USURF students, and four undergraduate students. The other USURF student is a Korean undergraduate from... (I forget where~~~). His name is 장동주 and he's planning on entering the lab as a graduate student next year. We both work with the graduate student named 이보람. I think he's been in this lab for 2 years? I'm not sure.... (I really should pay more attention to the little details....) But yeah, the four undergraduates are working as research assistants in the lab; some of them are planning on entering the lab after they graduate. There are two juniors and two sophomores... and now I feel like I'm listing facts rather than expressing my feelings and opinions so I'll stop here with the lab description.
Research so far is going well. Samples are being made, experiments are being run, data are being analyzed. Though I can't say my samples are producing the best results.. but that will change! Hopefully... I'm stopping here for now but there's more to come with research~! Stay tuned! (And maybe I'll actually take some pictures of my work and post them here.....)
Aside from research, last weekend I went back up to Seoul to visit my parents and brother again. This time, my brother and I went back to our old neighborhood to eat at a restaurant we both love(d) back in 2002-2004. We past both apartment complexes that we lived in while we were in Korea, our old middle school, and then we arrived at the restaurant. I felt a huge wave a nostalgia while walking from the subway station to the restaurant. Most of the memories weren't that great.. but I had my share of good memories when I lived in Korea. Below are some pictures that I took on our trek to the restaurant.
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| Apartment building of 2003-2004 |
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| Road leading up to apartment building of summer of 2006 |
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| Sign of middle school back in 2003-2004. "Bang-bae middle school" |
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| 한지박 restaurant! Korean style Chinese food~~ |
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