Acquisition of an Electron Probe Microanalyzer

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0744154AgueThis grant will support the purchase of a new electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) at Yale University. The current JEOL JXA-8600 EPMA has played a vital role in research and undergraduate and graduate level teaching over the last ~17 years, but the natural aging of mechanical and computer components, the obsolescence of much of the computer software and hardware, and the expanding needs of current and future research programs require replacement of the existing instrument. New research will be critically dependent on imaging and chemically mapping features one to two orders of magnitude smaller than we can currently resolve, on two-dimensional chemical mapping using wavelength-dispersive and energy-dispersive spectrometers, and on newly available wavelength-dispersive spectrometer (WDS) designs that will improve count rates and peak-to-background ratios. The research base that will support a new instrument comprises a broad spectrum of field, laboratory, experimental, and theoretical projects. The new EPMA will, together with a newly-purchased SEM, form the basis of a coherent "Microbeam Center" in the Department of Geology and Geophysics. This center will provide the analytical capabilities necessary for the next generation of research and teaching at Yale as well as for the broader educational, scientific, and industrial communities of southern New England.