Microscopy with neutral helium atoms: A wide-ranging new technique for delicate samples
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
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Organisations
Publications
Halpin JE
(2019)
An in-situ approach for preparing atom probe tomography specimens by xenon plasma-focussed ion beam.
in Ultramicroscopy
Lambrick S
(2020)
Multiple scattering in scanning helium microscopy
in Applied Physics Letters
| Description | The purpose of the award was to develop a new form of microscopy towards a commercially-viable instrument. The University of Glasgow contribution was to produce apertures and optical elements to form and focus the microscope's imaging illumination beam (of neutral helium atoms). This was achieved successfully and some results relating to this specific task are being written-up for publication. Development of the instrument itself has also been successful and has now been passed to an external company by my project partners at the University of Cambridge. Further details of the commercialisation can be found in their separate ResearchFish submission. |
| Exploitation Route | The funding led to the development of a prototype instrument that is now available for use by external users and is actively being developed for commercial sale. The microscope technology may be employed in a wide variety of imaging applications, and particularly for sub-micron imaging of samples that have large-scale topographic features or that damage or electrostatically charge easily under examination by other microscopies. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Electronics,Energy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://atomscattering.phy.cam.ac.uk/beam-lines/helium-microscopy/ |
| Description | The Glasgow work for this grant is in support of the collaborator's main grant, held at the University of Cambridge. See that grant's submission for details. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Other |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | EMAG2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Conference chair for the Electron Microscopy and Analysis Group of the Institute of Physics biennial meeting. The conference was held online and reached a record number (just under 300) of delegates from academic and industrial research, drawn predominantly from UK/EU but including international speakers and delegates from further afield. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | http://emag2020.iopconfs.org/home |
| Description | MMC2019 Precongress wkshp |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Highly-regarded workshop organised to provide training in 'deep learning' algorithms, targetted at academic and industrial researchers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | MMC2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited talk at the biennial Microscopy and Microanalysis Congress (MMC), held online in July 2021. The congress typically attracts over 1000 delegates and the session in which I delivered my talk reached > 200 delegates. The talk, entitled "Improved thermoelectric design through multi-lengthscale structural analysis" was in the general area of energy materials and disseminated results of funded research, including the development of new nanoanalytical methodologies that have now been adopted by researchers elsewhere. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.mmc-series.org.uk/mmc2021/ |
| Description | Newcastle NSW seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Research talk at University of Newcastle, New South Wales. Primarily academic in nature and led to discussions for future research activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |