Project Info
Hardware Development for Atomic Scale Tomography
Brian Gorman | bgorman@mines.edu
In this proposed program, a student will assist with designing and building an Atom Probe Tomography instrument within the objective lens of a Transmission Electron Microscope. The resulting instrument will be capable of characterizing materials with single atom spatial and chemical resolution, a technique dubbed Atomic Scale Tomography (AST). AST will be a disruptive technology for the materials science community in that any material or nanoscale device can be reverse engineered one atom at a time.
More Information
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20190318907A1/en
Grand Engineering Challenge: Engineer the tools of scientific discovery
Student Preparation
Qualifications
Good wrench turning abilities – if you have ever built a car or done large scale home improvements, this would be a good match. A deep curiosity of materials structure at the atomic level and a passion for exploration are important.
Time Commitment
8-10 hours/week
Skills/Techniques Gained
GPU programming Deep learning Scheduling Locality optimization
Mentoring Plan
Expertise in electron microscopy, atom probe tomography, sharks with lasers, vacuum systems, cryogenics, and general design and construction of scientific equipment.