SuperSTEM: National Research Facility for Advanced Electron Microscopy

这项提案要求为EPSRC国家高级电子显微镜研究设施(AdvEM)提供资金，从2022年3月14日起为期5年，并为具有量子材料和现象研究能力的独特的下一代仪器提供额外的资本资金。自20年前成立以来，自2011年作为AdvEM的EPSRC NRF以来，SuperSTEM已成为国际知名的用户中心。它提供了世界领先的扫描透射电子显微镜(STEM)仪器和专业知识，用于直接成像原子结构和确定化学成分、成键和振动属性，重点是单原子的精度和灵敏度。NRF能够阐明材料和器件的结构-性质关系，以造福于一个来自EPSRC学术和工业研究领域的社区，该社区来自催化、能量转换和存储、生物材料、有机化学和无机化学、矿物学、行星科学、核材料、凝聚态物理和量子材料等多个领域。所申请的资金将在保证服务能力的情况下，为世界科学界提供5年以上的持续支持，使其能够获得机构层面上无法获得的这些独特的显微镜和专业知识。它将在解释和分析AdvEM数据方面支持专门的合作研究和培训。虽然该基金的最新文书目前拥有国际领先的能源决议，但该提案还包括一项有远见的计划和对具有变革能力的下一代文书的资金请求。特别是，在没有磁场的样品环境中，在液氦温度下观察样品，同时保持超高的能量和空间分辨率的能力将是世界独一无二的。这一新的QuantumSTEM仪器将能够研究跨越相变或状态转变的材料的电子结构，以及软物质(如单分子、生物材料、分子晶体等)的振动指纹，从而在更广泛的系统中带来单色化的好处，在这些系统中，低温观测可以帮助减轻束流损害或诱导新的物理现象。结合外部样品刺激，通过改变显微镜内材料的磁场体验，或使它们受到受控的电热刺激，量子现象的光谱特征，例如声子(规范玻色子、磁子)以外的准粒子，将可以在原子尺度上获得。这些主题是新兴的量子材料领域的核心，这是一个对英国研究投资具有战略重要性的领域。量子STEM将以极低的成本将电子显微镜扩展到与共振非弹性X射线散射相关的实验领域，并具有更高的空间分辨率和探测效率数量级。

This proposal requests funding for the provision of SuperSTEM, the EPSRC National Research Facility for Advanced Electron Microscopy (AdvEM), for 5 years from 14 March 2022, together with additional capital funding for a unique, next-generation instrument with capabilities tailored for the study of quantum materials and phenomena.Since its inception 20 years ago, and since 2011 as the EPSRC NRF for AdvEM, SuperSTEM, has become an internationally renowned user centre. It offers access to world-leading scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) instrumentation and expertise for the direct imaging of atomic structures and the determination of chemical composition, bonding and vibrational properties, with a focus on single-atom precision and sensitivity. The NRF enables the elucidation of structure-property relationships in materials and devices for the benefit of a community drawn from over 30 EPSRC Research Areas, both academic and industrial, in fields as diverse as catalysis, energy conversion and storage, bio-materials, organic and inorganic chemistry, mineralogy, planetary science, nuclear materials, condensed matter physics and quantum materials.The requested funding will provide 5 more years of continued support at a guaranteed service capacity for the worldwide scientific community to access these unique microscopes and expertise not available at institutional level. It will support dedicated collaborative research and training in the interpretation and analysis of AdvEM data. While the Facility's most recent instrument currently boasts internationally leading energy resolutions, this proposal also includes a visionary plan and funding request for a next-generation instrument with transformative capabilities. In particular, the ability to observe samples at liquid helium temperatures in a magnetic-field-free sample environment, while maintaining ultra-high energy and spatial resolution would be world-unique. This new QuantumSTEM instrument will enable the study of the electronic structure of materials across phase or state transitions, as well as the vibrational fingerprinting of soft matter (such as single molecules, biomaterials, molecular crystals, etc...), bringing to bear the benefits of monochromation on a wider range of systems where low temperature observation can help mitigate beam damage or induce novel physical phenomena. Combined with external sample stimulation by varying the magnetic field materials experience within the microscope, or subjecting them to controlled electrothermal stimuli, the spectroscopic signature of quantum phenomena, e.g. quasiparticles beyond phonons (gauge bosons, magnons), will become accessible at the atomic scale. These themes are central to the emerging field of quantum materials, an area of strategic importance for UK research investment. QuantumSTEM will expand electron microscopy into experimental territory associated with resonant inelastic X-ray scattering at a fraction of the cost and with orders of magnitude higher spatial resolution and detection efficiency.