Kublai Ash
Research Mentor: Robert Hovden
Mentor Department: Materials Science, Engineering
Author(s): Not Available
Session: Session 1 (9:00 AM – 9:50 AM)
Presentation Type: Poster 28
Abstract
Electron Microscopy was invented to the benefit of material physics, material sciences, and biology. While light microscopes have widespread use through their long term prevalence, they aren’t of much use when observing materials and specimens smaller than light. Hence, this is the purpose of the electron microscope which can observe such at a much more granular and well-defined size. In this lab and our research, there is an emphasis on observing material below freezing temperatures. This is for the purpose of observing how material behaves at extremely cold temperatures, sometimes well below the temperature of liquid nitrogen. So, there is a primary challenge of observing these materials in these conditions without the resolution or the quality of observation being affected. More than that, another potential parameter for failure is the delicacy of the samples themselves, which are thin and can be sensitive to the treatment of the electron microscope. Beyond these challenges, the goals of this lab are to better understand the atomic structure of many different materials that range from organic material to various metals. There is also interest in measuring electron states of various materials to observe and control quantum states microscopically. This is once again obtained by electron microscopy which allows for greater control on the infinitesimal level.
