SuperSTEM: National Research Facility for Advanced Electron Microscopy

该提案要求从2022年3月14日起，为EPSRC国家先进电子显微镜研究设施（AdvEM）提供为期5年的资金，同时为一种独特的下一代仪器提供额外的资金，该仪器具有专门研究量子材料和现象的能力。自20年前成立以来，并自2011年作为EPSRC NRF AdvEM， SuperSTEM，已成为国际知名的用户中心。它提供世界领先的扫描透射电子显微镜（STEM）仪器和专业知识，用于原子结构的直接成像和化学成分，键合和振动特性的测定，重点是单原子精度和灵敏度。NRF能够阐明材料和设备的结构-性质关系，以造福于来自30多个EPSRC研究领域的社区，包括学术和工业，在催化，能量转换和存储，生物材料，有机和无机化学，矿物学，行星科学，核材料，凝聚态物理和量子材料等领域。所要求的资金将在保证服务能力的情况下，为全球科学界提供5年的持续支持，使他们能够获得这些在机构一级无法获得的独特显微镜和专业知识。它将支持AdvEM数据解释和分析方面的专门合作研究和培训。虽然该基金的最新工具目前拥有国际领先的能源决议，但该提案还包括一项具有变革能力的下一代工具的远见计划和资金请求。特别是，在无磁场的样品环境中，在液氦温度下观察样品，同时保持超高能量和空间分辨率的能力将是世界上独一无二的。这种新的QuantumSTEM仪器将能够研究材料的电子结构，跨越相或状态的转变，以及软物质（如单分子，生物材料，分子晶体等）的振动指纹，在更广泛的系统中，低温观测可以帮助减轻光束损伤或诱导新的物理现象，从而带来单色化的好处。结合通过改变显微镜内磁场材料经验的外部样品刺激，或使它们受到受控的电热刺激，量子现象的光谱特征，例如超越声子的准粒子（规范玻色子，磁振子），将在原子尺度上变得可访问。这些主题是量子材料新兴领域的核心，这是英国研究投资的战略重要性领域。QuantumSTEM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，成本只占一小部分，空间分辨率和探测效率提高了几个数量级。

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.