SBIR Phase II: Optical Delivery System for In Situ Heating and Excitation in the Transmission Electron Microscope

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发仪器，使研究人员能够阐明在高温和各种时间尺度下原子尺度上的基本相互作用。从先进的汽车制造到计算机芯片，几乎所有发展中的技术都需要在高温下加工材料以增强其性能。提出的光学传输系统将使研究人员和制造商能够在前所未有的温度、时间和长度尺度下有效地研究材料，从而更快地将新产品推向市场。此外，该系统将为工程师和科学家提供一个快速推进新兴技术的新平台，这些技术受限于对高温和激发态材料现象的理解。这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目将设计、组装和测试一个光学传输系统，该系统特别适合在透射电子显微镜（TEM）中进行纳米和原子尺度的表征。该计划将提供一个系统，该系统具有前所未有的能力，可以通过高度局部化的光热和光激发模式有效地刺激TEM中的材料。光热模式将实现对TEM样品的灵活、非侵入性和无处不在的访问，并能够研究使用标准电阻加热系统无法获得的独特温度和时间制度。所提出的集成温度测量系统将允许闭环反馈和精确温度控制。激发方式将使研究人员能够在纳米尺度上对材料的光学激发态进行成像和表征。该仪器由光纤耦合的光加热和激励通道组成，通过专门设计的纳米机械手进行精确的x-y-z定位。除了硬件的发展，适当的软件控制将开发的光源和纳米机械手系统。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop instrumentation that will allow researchers to elucidate fundamental interactions at the atomic scale that occur at high-temperature and various timescales. From advanced automobile manufacturing to computer chips, virtually all developing technologies require processing materials at high temperatures to enhance their properties. The proposed optical delivery system will enable researchers and manufacturers to efficiently study materials at unprecedented temperature, time, and length scales, and thus bring new products to market faster. Furthermore, the system will provide engineers and scientists a new platform for rapidly advancing emerging technologies that are limited by understanding high-temperature and excited-state materials phenomena.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will design, assemble and test an optical delivery system specifically suitable for nano- and atomic-scale characterization in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The proposed program will deliver a system with unprecedented ability to efficiently stimulate materials in the TEM via highly-localized photothermal and photoexcited modalities. The photothermal modality will enable agile, non-invasive, and ubiquitous access to TEM specimens, and enable studies of unique temperature and temporal regimes not accessible using standard resistive heating systems. The proposed integrated temperature measurement system will allow closed-loop feedback and control of the precise temperature. The excitation modality will enable researchers to image and characterize optically excited states of materials at the nanoscale. The proposed instrumentation consists of fiber-coupled optical heating and excitation channels positioned by a specially-designed nanomanipulator for accurate x-y-z positioning. In addition to the hardware development, appropriate software controls will be developed for the optical sources and the nanomanipulator system.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.