The lockbox: phase-locked temporal lenses for time-resolved electron microscopy

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In the coming years, innovation in the science of materials will reside in our ability to understand and control the intimate relationships between the structure of materials and their properties, both at and far from equilibrium. This goal has been recognized as a Grand Challenge for the fundamental sciences in a recent US Department of Energy report. This requires new tools, and the current proposal is focused on a pioneering development in electron microscopy instrumentation that can provide essential missing information on complex materials, and the structure and properties of systems far from equilibrium. Such work is expected to have a broad impact across all traditional scientific disciplines (Physics, Chemistry, Biology).****In particular, the current proposal will support the commercialization of a key enabling technology for electron microscopy at extremely high time resolution. This technology is based on an electron-optical element that can act like a temporal lens, in contrast to the conventional lenses that make up traditional microscope. This optic can be added to any existing electron microscope to improve time-resolution. The orders of magnitude enhancement in performance that this technology provides has defined a new state-of-the-art for such studies. Using this new technology we the Siwick group at McGill has recently provided unprecedented views of atomic-level structural dynamics for several materials and demonstrated the ability to separate dynamical contributions that come from the reorganization of lattice structure from that which comes from changes in orbital the arrangement of electrons. The history of science shows us that the ability to see materials in new ways will lead to new discoveries in materials science and their application to new technologies.