MRI: Acquisition of an electron microprobe for research in Earth sciences, materials science, and applied physics

这笔拨款将用于购买一台新的电子探针微型分析仪（EPMA），该仪器将取代老化和故障的仪器，从而大大提高对地球和材料科学研究和科学培训至关重要的设施的能力。这种仪器将一束狭窄的电子束聚焦到固体材料的表面，如岩石或矿物、实验产品或电子元件。然后，它分析发射的x射线，并对小到一微米的斑点进行精确的化学分析。还可以生成合成图像和地图，以可视化在自然和实验室生长的材料中捕获的复杂空间变化，从而揭示过程和历史的细节。一台功能齐全、具备最先进能力的EPMA对于地球科学的广泛研究项目至关重要，包括对地球深层内部矿物的实验研究，从揭示大陆和海洋盆地复杂生长过程的地幔和地壳样本，到研究地表裂缝中的流体流动和化学风化。在应用物理和材料科学领域，EPMA将为复杂电子和超导材料、陶瓷和用于显示屏和太阳能电池等应用的玻璃的各种研究提供关键和独特的数据。在所有这些领域中，大多数研究都是由国家科学基金会或其他美国政府机构资助的。EPMA设施将与斯坦福大学其他一些世界级的分析仪器协同工作，如离子探针、电子显微镜和地质年代学实验室。除了对大学的研究基础设施作出重大贡献，并对我们地质与环境科学系至少五名女教员的研究起到关键作用外，新的EPMA将为本科生、研究生和博士后的科学培训提供极好的机会。

This grant will fund the acquisition of a new Electron Probe Micro-Analyzer (EPMA), which will replace an aging and malfunctioning instrument and thus greatly enhance the capabilities of a facility critical to research and scientific training in the Earth and Materials Sciences. This instrument focuses a narrow beam of electrons onto the surface of a solid material such as a rock or mineral, an experimental product, or an electronic component. It then analyzes the emitted X-rays and provides precise chemical analyses on spots as small as one micrometer. Images and maps of composition can also be produced to visualize the complex spatial variations that are captured in both natural and laboratory-grown materials, which reveal details of processes and history. A fully-functioning EPMA with state-of-the-art capabilities will be essential to a wide range of research programs in the Earth sciences, ranging from experimental studies of the minerals of the planet's deep interior, to samples obtained from the mantle and crust that reveal the intricate processes of the growth of continents and ocean basins, to studies of fluid flow in fractures near the surface and chemical weathering. In the fields of Applied Physics and Materials Science, the EPMA will provide critical and unique data for a variety of research on complex electronic and superconducting materials, on ceramics, and on glasses for applications such as display screens and solar cells. In all of these fields, most of the research is funded by grants from NSF or other U.S. government agencies. The EPMA facility will be synergistic with a number of other world-class analytical instruments at Stanford such as ion microprobes, electron microscopes, and geochronology labs. Besides being a major contribution to the research infrastructure of the University, and being key to the research of at least five women faculty in our Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, the new EPMA will provide wonderful opportunities for scientific training of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students.