Trip Report – Tim Freund
How long were you in Nagoya and with which research group?
I stayed for 2 months working in the groups of Prof. Hayashi and Prof. Kato.
What did you research while you were there?
I brought some BaS3 and related thin film samples from our lab and used different characterization techniques on them. So I measured FTIR, UV-Vis Transmission and XPS on those samples to analyze their optoelectronic properties as well as their electronic states to gain deeper insights on the properties of this type of material.
What was the most interesting thing about your experience?
I got the chance to visit the Spring-8 Synchrotron facility and observe first-hand how the members from Prof. Hayashis group do the photoelectron & fluorescence Halography measurements, which was very exciting and insightful.
I especially was impressed by the size of the facility and the number of experiments (49 beamlines!) running at the same time.
What was one thing that you found especially different?
Everything seems to be miniaturized compared to Germany/Europe, but then there’s so much of it packed as close as possible and stacked on top of each other the overall scope still is overwhelming.
On another note, you can find some excellent beverages. One I especially liked was based on lychee and sea salt!
What was one thing that you found very similar?
The people seem to strive for similar things in life but also have similar struggles as in Europe. I was quite surprised just how similar people seemed on an individual level.
Where else did you travel in Japan?
I visited Kyoto and did a tour around Mount Fuji. And like mentioned before, I went to the Spring-8 facility which is close to Himeji in the Hyogo Prefecture in the mountains.
What will you always remember?
Enjoying the most like fresh milk tasting ice-cream in front of Mount Fuji. Also, staring down a 8m deep fresh-water pond filled with incredibly clear blue water and giant yellow fish.