Plato Creative Photograph 01

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A black and white, night-time photograph of the Cranmer Court building on the corner of Kilmore and Montreal Streets. The building has been lit up from below. The octagonal section on the corner of the building was the part occupied by Plato Creative from March 2008 to November 2009. Although designed to house a book depot, this section was used as the principal's office while Christchurch Normal School was operating from the building.

Spotted Amongst the Wreckage of the Ozone

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A black and white photograph of a sign reading "A tidy standard of dress is required." In the foreground is a pile of building rubble. The photographer comments, "I reversed this picture in the interests of my followers as it was harder to read the right way round. The wrecking crew did not wear ties, but they did look neat in their orange vests".

Photograph of argon gas laser

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A scanned copy of a black and white photograph of the argon gas laser used by David Lockwood in his PhD research at the University of Canterbury. David says, "In contrast to the He-Ne laser I developed for my MSc thesis, the laser I used was one of the first commercial lasers - an argon gas laser that required frequent painstaking maintenance. This was because the He-Ne gas laser did not produce enough power for my experiments".

Colin Lau's photograph of the University 2

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A scanned copy of a black and white photograph belonging to University of Canterbury alumnus Colin Lau. Colin describes the photograph as follows: "A shot of the float of a parade in the downtown area. I could still recognize some of the faces of my friends on the left taking in the sight and sound of the day. I do not quite recall the date of that parade; it has to be around the early 70's." Colin notes that the photograph may depict the 1971 'University Graduation Day' parade.

Photograph of New Zealand's first laser

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A scanned copy of a black and white photograph of the He-Ne Continuous Gas Laser used in David Lockwood's MSc research at the University of Canterbury. David says, "The experiments in the Thesis were aimed at examining the effects of sound waves on colloids, which are very small particles that are found in clays for example (for more details see page 181 of http://www.cap.ca/PiC-PaC/static/downloads/1efdc1f3784b85c1a1b33e396b91ee8aef2072c5.pdf ). In fact, I was looking at nanoparticles of matter, which preceded the emergence of nanotechnology as a field of research by more than two decades. I needed a suitable light source to probe the alignment of the nanoparticles in the ultrasonic sound field. At that time the laser had just been invented and I realized that this was the ideal light source for my experiment. I then proceeded to construct the first home-built laser in New Zealand. This laser - a He-Ne continuous-wave gas laser - operated at 632.8 nm (in the red). This laser, over a metre long, is shown in the black-and-white photo. There were lot of problems to be overcome, but eventually, with invaluable help from Dr. Tom Seed (my MSc supervisor) and Dr. Rod Syme, I had it working".

Photograph of David Lockwood with New Zealand's first laser Raman spectros…

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A scanned copy of a black and white photograph of David Lockwood standing beside the computer-controlled laser Raman spectroscopy equipment he used for his PhD research at the University of Canterbury. David says, "This thesis is concerned with setting up the first computer-controlled laser Raman spectroscopy equipment (shown in one photo - that's me wearing the laser safety goggles) in New Zealand and using it to measure the vibrational spectrum of novel materials grown in the Physics Department. It is very likely that my setup was also the first in the Southern Hemisphere".