MicroscopyFacilities
Quietly Building Capabilities: New Instruments, Expertise, “Quiet Wing” Available at DOE User Facility
Scott Lea,* Bernd Kabius, Bruce Arey, Libor Kovarik, Chongmin Wang, Galya Orr, Igor Lyubinetsky, and Ross Carper Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352
*
scott.lea@pnnl.gov
Introduction Although the last decade in electron microscopy has seen
tremendous gains in image resolution, new challenges in the field have come to the forefront. First, new ultra-sensitive instruments bring about unprecedented environmental specifications and facility needs for their optimal use. Second, in the quest for higher spatial resolutions, the importance of developing and sharing crucial expertise—from sample preparation to scientific vision—has perhaps been deemphasized. Finally, for imaging to accelerate discoveries related to large scientific and societal problems, in situ capabilities that replicate real-world process conditions are oſten required to deliver necessary information. Tis decade, these are among the hurdles leaders in the field are striving to overcome. Te Department of Energy’s (DOE) Environmental
Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) has a newly developed suite of microscopy capabilities that are being applied to various fields across the EMSL user community. Broad examples of these fields include catalysis, energy storage, and biology. EMSL’s “Quiet Wing,” depicted in Figure 1, is a new addition to the user facility to be completed in September
2011. Two years prior, in September 2009, EMSL director Allison Campbell testified before an Energy and Environment subcommittee at the U.S. House of Representatives, offering the scientific rationale for an expanded footprint: “EMSL will build a new space that will house ultra-high-resolution instruments for providing physical and chemical information at unprecedented spatial or energy resolution. Called the Quiet Wing, it will house new microscopy capabilities that require extremely low electromagnetic field and vibrational interference as well as high temperature-stability [1].” Te electron optical advancements of the last decades have
enabled crystal structure analysis on an atomic level. However, improved electron optics alone are not sufficient for this progress. Te whole system—instrument and environment— must be stable enough to allow sub-Ångstrom resolution within realistic exposure times (1–10 seconds). Te results of these increases in resolution were more stringent specifications for the stability of the environment, including low acoustic noise and low floor vibrations. To meet these requirements each instrument cell in the
Quiet Wing is built with a separate three-foot-thick foundation isolated from the foundations of the other rooms. Te facility also features noise-dampening materials, a laminar air-flow dispersion system to provide uniform temperatures and to minimize air movement at
the microscope columns, and
specialized shielding to prevent electromagnetic interference (EMI). In addition, the wing’s location was chosen for its very low EMI and vibration background, and the structure itself was designed to not create disruptive EMI. Tis environment allows scientific users to make optimal use of several new instruments, many of which were acquired during a $60-million investment in EMSL through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Capabilities Te Quiet Wing will house only a handful of the eighteen
Figure 1: The EMSL Quiet Wing will initially house five microscopy instruments, and planning for further additions is ongoing.
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instruments within EMSL’s microscopy capability group. Here we introduce the five instruments that will initially occupy the wing, which themselves form a unique collection for the research community. Te tools and techniques listed—and others in EMSL—are meant to be complementary. In a number of research areas, integrating them, as well as incorporating theoretical modeling and simulation, greatly enhances experi- mental results. For this reason, one can consider them different components or aspects of one large imaging capability.
doi:10.1017/S1551929511000964
www.microscopy-today.com • 2011 September
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