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

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目的更广泛影响/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上发生的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，几乎所有正在开发的技术都需要高温处理材料来提高其性能。拟议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、时间和长度范围内高效地研究材料，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新的平台，用于快速推进受高温和激发态材料现象限制的新兴技术。这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目将设计、组装和测试一种专门适合于在透射电子显微镜(TEM)中进行纳米和原子尺度表征的光学传输系统。拟议的计划将提供一种具有前所未有的能力的系统，通过高度局域的光热和光激模式在瞬变电子显微镜中有效地激发材料。光热模式将使人们能够灵活、非侵入性和无处不在地获取透射电子显微镜样品，并能够研究使用标准电阻加热系统无法访问的独特温度和时间区域。拟议的集成温度测量系统将允许对精确的温度进行闭环反馈和控制。这种激发模式将使研究人员能够在纳米尺度上成像和表征材料的光学激发态。该仪器由光纤耦合的光加热和激发通道组成，由专门设计的纳米操纵器定位，以实现精确的x-y-z定位。除了硬件开发，还将为光源和纳米操纵器系统开发适当的软件控制。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已通过使用基金会的智力优势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.