Pulsed island (22nd of January 2010)
Ultra-fast dynamics is a field of research (mainly in physics, but also in chemistry and biology) that is strongly developing, mostly thanks to the technology of femto-second lasers. With the help of such technology it is possible to monitor processes that evolve on the time scales of femtoseconds (10-15 s). Of course, quantum-mechanical effects are of utmost importance on these time scales (before the thermalization of the excitation and the loss of coherence of quantum state, when the classical mechanics takes over). This area of research is not in the center of my interest (I am more into bio-nano aspects, self-assembly, and such things), but, still, I follow it as much as I can since I collaborate on the project led by Dr. Branko Gumhalter from the Institute of physics (Zagreb). We also publish together on the subject, and it hasn't been long since we published a paper that deals with the decay of quantum state due to scattering of electrons from the defects on surfaces (adsorbed atoms, vacancies and such). Anyhow, Dr. Gumhalter is the main organizer of the conference "Ultrafast Surface Dynamics 7" that should be held in August this year at the Brijuni islands. As a member of organization comittee, I am also trying to help here and there, and one of the "jobs" that I did gladly was the design of the flyer and the title page for the conference proceedings. That's where the story in this post begins.
In the scientific sketches and figures from "femto-, ultra-" field, one can often see a schematic representation
of the laser pulse - some kind of gaussian-damped cosine function. Typically it looks as in the image above. Since
the conference will take place at Brijuni islands, which are heaven on Earth (no kidding) and one totally special
story, I was thinking to somehow use the graphics to link this aspect of heavenly, isolated island and the
femtosecond pulse. The idea that first comes to mind is to make an island in the form of a pulse, some kind of
"false Brijuni islands", or Brijuni islands as they will be during the conference. Whatever... It turned out as
in the image used in the opening of this post. Due to the whiteness of the sea bottom and quite shallow water, the
island looks more like a tropic than the adriatic one, but since it is a construction of reality, it doesn't
matter. The island has paths, trees in the shape of cones and ellipsoids, rocks, and an astute observer should notice
a high roman pillar, which is one of the notable trademarks of Brijuni islands. When I obtained the first variant
of the "pulsed island", it didn't in fact remind me of Brijuni islands, I thought of cape Smočiguzica on the
island of Hvar and Pakleni otoci (Hell islands) near the
island of Hvar. Adriatic sea from the croatian side is really spectacular and inspirational.
Dr. Gumhalter made an interesting comment when he saw the first variant of the flyer. He thought that the apparent
isolation of the island could induce negative psychological reaction with those potentially interested in the
conference. How to reach such exotic and isolated place? Can one do it at all? So he proposed that I try to somehow
graphically suggest that the "pulsed island" is close to the mainland and that it can be easily reached. Then I
thought about making some kind of a "mental map", where one could see Pula and Fažana and some basic topology of the
west coast of Istria. I alse remembered the church of holy Damjan and Kuzma in Fažana, colloseum (arena) in Pula...
It couldn't be done in the "real" perspective, i.e. the one consistent with the representation of the island, so I did it in the false perspective, which is not that important since the added information serves only to "anchor" the island in the "real world" (whatever...). And so I made a flyer that is shown in the image below.
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Last updated on: 22nd of January 2010.