Ellipsometer for aging studies in stable polymer glass

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This proposal requests funds for the purchase of an ellipsometer for the study of ultrastable polymer glass produced by physical vapour deposition.The most urgent need for the ellipsometer is for aging studies where the time dependence of physical quantities (such as density) is used to monitor the approach to equilibrium of glassy systems.  Such measurements can require days to weeks of continuous measurement- something not possible on facility based instruments.  What makes ultrastable glass, and in particular polymer ultrastable glass, so interesting is that the process of vapour deposition (mediated through enhanced surface mobility) allows for the production of materials that can be very close to equilibrium.  In particular, some polymer glasses have been suggested to be comparable to liquid cooled glass that has been aged for millions of years! Such systems are very promising analogues for extreme aged materials, and as such are good candidates for materials very close to ideal glasses. In addition to the ability to characterize near-ideal glassy systems, such materials have a high density and superior mechanical properties that may be promising in many applications.  HQP using the instrument will become experts in this common nano characterization tool and will learn about important but subtle aspects of model dependent derived (rather than directly measured) quantities. Such HQP have been found to be successful in both the private sector as well as academic career trajectories.