MRI: Acquisition of System for the Integration of Raman Scattering, Luminescence and Scanning Electron Microscopies

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Technical AbstractThis multi-probe instrumentation will integrate micro-Raman scattering and other visible-wavelength spectroscopic probes with scanning secondary electron and electron backscattering, and energy-dispersive analytic mapping capabilities within a single experimental platform. Graduate and undergraduate, postdoctoral, and faculty researchers will use this capability to collect multi-channel maps of Raman scattering, cathodoluminescence, and photoluminescence spectroscopy, and electron microscopy and analysis with spatial correlation, and in high-vacuum, variable-pressure or environmental mode. Enhanced by a heating and cooling stage, the system will be used to provide spatially correlated images of local structure and phenomena, properties and fields. These include chemistry, structural phase, composition, strain, electronic carrier concentration, and carrier diffusion lengths in surface and near-surface nanostructures, thin-film and bulk materials and devices. By linking multiple quantitative mapping capabilities with multiple stimuli, the instrument will impact a diverse range of research activities, including those involving biomaterials and biosensors, nano-scale electronic, photonic and plasmonic materials and devices, materials design, and materials for applications in renewable energy technologies. The system will be used as a demonstration and teaching platform in undergraduate and graduate lecture and laboratory courses and in seminars on correlated microscopic and spectroscopic data and analysis. The tool will also be used in educational outreach activities, including programs that engage undergraduates from other institutions, and secondary-school mathematics and science teachers in summer-long research experiences.Non-technical AbstractThis scientific imaging and spectroscopic instrumentation will combine different materials characterization and device probing methods to provide researchers with multi-channel scanning optical, electrical and electron-beam based imaging and analysis capabilities within a single tool. With this system, researchers will simultaneously probe, spatially resolve and correlate several attributes of materials, devices and biological systems on the scale of a hundred times smaller than a human hair, and in different gas environments and at different temperatures. Included among these are micro-structure and topology, chemistry, chemical bonding, mechanical stress and stiffness, and the behavior of electrons and the color of light emitted, reflected or scattered. This tool will allow researchers to design, develop and evaluate the performance of new materials and devices for applications ranging from environmental monitoring to medical diagnostics and drug delivery, from eco-friendly energy production and storage to high-performance materials for vehicles, ships and aircraft. This equipment and results obtained using it will also be integral parts of undergraduate and graduate curricula in lectures, laboratory modules, and demonstrations in which students learn to apply multi-channel spectroscopic mapping methods to design and analysis. The instrument will also be used in educational outreach activities, including programs that engage undergraduates from other institutions, and secondary-school mathematics and science teachers in summer-long research experiences. Finally, this capability will facilitate new interactions between industrial collaborators and Drexel faculty and their student researchers through industry co-op positions and senior design projects. These interactions among students, faculty and industrial collaborators will provide additional context for their education and research training, further strengthening Drexel's long tradition of excellence in providing co-operative educational experience.