High Energy Ultrafast Electron Diffraction
Dr. Pietro Musumeci provides an overview of high energy ultrafast electron diffraction.
Atomic Structures from Prion Protein Nanocrystals
Dr. Jose Rodriguez provides an overview of atmoic structures from prion protein nanocrystals.
Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry (MF) hosted the Frontiers of Electron Tomography in the Physical Sciences
Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry (MF) hosted the Frontiers of Electron Tomography in the Physical Sciences conference together with UCLA and STROBE (an NSF Science and Technology Center) to disseminate results and discuss new ideas for three-dimensional imaging techniques. The conference was held in Berkeley, CA from October 23rd – 26th and included a two-day workshop of research talks followed by a two-day short course. A total of 97 people registered for the conference.
Tomography is a technique that can reconstruct the three-dimensional shape of objects at the nanoscale from a series of two-dimensional images such as those acquired by scanning / transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM). It has become an increasingly important technique in nanoscale research for quantitative characterization in three-dimensions of a wide range of materials systems. Recent advances in S/TEM hardware and reconstruction algorithms has extended this technique to the atomic scale in a technique known as atomic electron tomography (AET). A joint collaboration between UCLA and the MF, with funding from DOE BES and STROBE, has proven atomic resolution imaging is possible with precision of 19 trillionths of a meter (19 picometers). The FET2017 conference was held to discuss these new capabilities, potential future applications and provide in-depth teaching of the technique to graduate and postdoctoral students.
The two-day workshop included talks by several internationally recognized speakers on electron imaging and tomography as well as a poster session highlighting student research. Attendees were given the opportunity to take part in discussions on improvements and applications to AET. An important discussion during the workshop focused on the need for a materials data bank (MDB) of atomic resolution data sets and experimentally determined atomic coordinates made available openly to the physical sciences research community. This database, currently under development, will provide peer-reviewed sets of atomic structures and should be available in 2018.
After the workshop, tomography experts taught two days of lectures and hands-on tutorials to graduate and postdoctoral students on electron tomography topics such as theory, experimental design and newly available software. The new GENFIRE algorithm and open-source software developed as part of STROBE to reconstruct the atomic structure of materials. Also presented was the open-source Tomviz tomography analysis and visualization platform developed by Kitware, Inc. All lecture materials are available at the FET2017 short course website in an effort to increase the accessibility of the AET technique.
The conference was held jointly by the MF, UCLA and STROBE with contributions from several industry partners. More information is available at the conference website.
Synopsis: Plasmon Thermometers for Silicon
Electron oscillations in silicon may be used to map, with nanometer resolution, the temperatures across a silicon device. Chris Regan of the University of California, Los Angeles, and co-workers have now developed a thermometry technique that, using a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), could eventually map temperature in a silicon device with a resolution down to 10 nm.
Congrats to Laura Waller on Receiving the SPIE Early Career Achievement Award – Academia
Dr. Laura Waller, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at University of California, Berkeley, is the recipient of the 2018 SPIE Early Career Achievement Award in the academic category. Dr. Waller is being honored for her contributions to biomedical and industrial science through development of computational imaging hardware and software for phase retrieval, 3D imaging, and partially coherent systems.
Talk Science Now
Sandra Tsing Loh provides a seminar on science communication. Among her many roles as an actress, author, and artist, Sandra Tsing Loh is the host of the daily NPR radio program, The Loh Down on Science, where she delivers the latest in science in a humorous, yet informative minute-long broadcast. In addition, she leads the Science Communication course at UC Irvine, where she teaches young scientists how to communicate their work to the general public and avoid pitfalls in conveying complicated and controversial science. During this seminar, Sandra will show how scientists can share their projects in fun and engaging ways without relying on difficult, technical terminology.
Now recording: CU Boulder students, groups produce podcasts
“From the start, the project has been about giving a platform to voices usually not heard in science class — Latinx voices,” said Hernandez Charpak, who is now the assistant director of research and knowledge transfer at CU’s STROBE, a National Science Foundation science and technology center on real-time functional imaging.
Five STROBE Institutions Represented on AISES List of Top 200 Colleges for Native Americans
Use this list of 200 colleges and universities to research where American Indians are going to school in significant numbers and where the community, Native Programs, and support are strong enough for these students to enjoy college and stay on to graduation. Unlike most “top colleges” lists, the focus here is on the Native Community and the support system, from admissions through graduation.
Congrats to Pietro Musumeci on election as a Fellow of the American Physical Society
Five UCLA faculty members have been elected Fellows of the American Physical Society for its class of 2016. Recipients are nominated by professional peers and selected by the Society. The honor recognizes “exceptional contributions to the physics enterprise,” such as outstanding physics research, important applications of physics, leadership in or service to physics and significant contributions to physics education.
Congrats to Laura Waller who is now tenured at University of California at Berkeley
Laura Waller leads the Computational Imaging Lab, which develops new methods for optical imaging, with optics and computational algorithms designed jointly.