Dark-Field X-ray Microscopy (DFXM) is a diffraction-based synchrotron imaging techique capable of imaging defects in the bulk of extended crystalline samples. We present numerical simulations of image-formation in such a microscope using numerical integration of the dynamical Takagi-Taupin Equations (TTE) and wave front propagation. We validate our approach by comparing simulated images to experimental data from a near-perfect single crystal of diamond containing a single stacking fault defect in the illuminated volume.
THz near field microscopy opens a new frontier in material science. High spatial resolution requires the detection crystal to have uniform and reproducible response. We present the THz near field spatial and temporal response of ZnTe and GaP and examine possible properties that give rise to the ZnTe degraded signal.
Domain Switching on the Pareto Front: Multi-Objective Deep Kernel Learning in Automated Piezoresponse Force Microscopy
University of Tennessee(田纳西大学);Institute of Science Tokyo(东京科学大学);University of California, Berkeley(加州大学伯克利分校);Rice University(莱斯大学);Pacific Northwest National Laboratory(太平洋西北国家实验室)
A planar crack generically segments into an array of "daughter cracks" shaped as tilted facets when loaded with both a tensile stress normal to the crack plane (mode I) and a shear stress parallel to the crack front (mode III). We investigate facet propagation and coarsening using in-situ microscopy observations of fracture surfaces at different stages of quasi-static mixed-mode crack propagation and phase-field simulations. The results demonstrate that the bifurcation from propagating planar to segmented crack front is strongly subcritical, reconciling previous theoretical predictions of line…
Kinetic equations and level-set approach for simulating solid-state microstructure evolutions at the mesoscopic scale: state of the art, limitations, and prospects
A novel scanning tunneling microscope manipulation scheme for a controlled molecular transport of weakly adsorbed molecules is demonstrated. Single sexiphenyl molecules adsorbed on a Ag(111) surface at 6 K are shot towards single silver-atoms by excitation with the tip. To achieve atomically straight shooting paths, an electron resonator consisting of linear standing wave fronts is constructed. The sexiphenyl manipulation signals reveal a pi-ring flipping as the molecule moves from hcp to fcc site. Abinitio calculations show an incorporation of the Ag atom below the center of a pi-ring.
Thermodynamics of tip-induced nanodomain formation in scanning probe microscopy of ferroelectric films and crystals is studied using the Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire phenomenological approach. The local redistribution of polarization induced by the biased probe apex is analyzed including the effects of polarization gradients, field dependence of dielectric properties, intrinsic domain wall width, and film thickness. The polarization distribution inside subcritical nucleus of the domain preceding the nucleation event is very smooth and localized below the probe, and the electrostatic field distri…
The electronic transport and the sensing performance of an individual SnO2 crossed nanowires device in a three-terminal field effect configuration were investigated using a combination of macroscopic transport measurements and Scanning Surface Potential Microscopy (SSPM). The structure of the device was determined using both Scanning Electron- and Atomic Force Microscopy data. The SSPM images of two crossed 1D nanostructures, simulating a prototypical nanowire network sensors, exhibit large dc potential drops at the crossed-wire junction and at the contacts, identifying them as the primary ele…
Ice-templating is a well-established processing route for porous ceramics. Because of the structure/properties relationships, it is essential to better understand and control the solidification microstructures. Ice-templating is based on the segregation and concentration of particles by growing ice crystals. What we understand so far of the process is based on either observations by optical or X-ray imaging techniques, or on the characterization of ice-templated materials. However, in situ observations at particle-scale are still missing. Here we show that confocal microscopy can provide multi…
Imaging individual vacancies in solids and revealing their interactions with solute atoms remains one of the frontiers in microscopy and microanalysis. Here we study a creep-deformed binary Ni-2 at.% Ta alloy. Atom probe tomography reveals a random distribution of Ta. Field ion microscopy, with contrast interpretation supported by density-functional theory and time-of-flight mass spectrometry, evidences a positive correlation of tantalum with vacancies. Our results support solute-vacancy binding, which explains improvement in creep resistance of Ta-containing Ni-based superalloys and helps gui…
The interaction of objects with a moving solidification front is a common feature of many industrial and natural processes such as metal processing, the growth of single-crystals, the cryopreservation of cells, or the formation of sea ice. Solidification fronts interact with objects with different outcomes, from the total rejection to their complete engulfment. We image the freezing of emulsions in 5D (space, time, and solute concentration) with confocal microscopy. We show the solute induces long-range interactions that determine the solidification microstructure. The local increase of solute…
In spite of its great promises for energy efficient power conversion, the electronic quality of cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) on silicon is currently limited by the presence of a variety of extended defects in the heteroepitaxial material. However, the specific role of the different defects on the electronic transport is still under debate. In this work, a macro- and nano-scale characterization of Schottky contacts on 3C-SiC/Si was carried out, to elucidate the impact of the anti-phase-boundaries (APBs) and stacking-faults (SFs) on the forward and reverse current-voltage characteristics of th…
STEMGym: Benchmarking Sequential Decision-Making under Dose Budgets in Autonomous Electron Microscopy
Dept. of Electrical & Computer Eng.(电气与计算机工程系);Texas A&M Univ.(德克萨斯A&M大学);Dept. of Prosthetics & Orthotics(假肢与矫形学系);College of Science & Eng.(科学与工程学院);Ankara Univ.(安卡拉大学);Hamad Bin Khalifa Univ. and Texas A&M Univ. at Qatar(哈马德·本·卡西姆大学和德克萨斯A&M大学(卡塔尔))