14 ms·

That looks like a giant van der Graaff in the background. Powers the microscope or just the optics?

foota 4y ago
It seems like that was where the event was held: https://www.cemes.fr/Nanocar-Race-II-1463?lang=en https://www.cemes.fr/Nanocar-Race-II-1463?lang=en Unclear if that's part of the equipment or not.
COGlory 4y ago
I am an electron microscopist and I am thoroughly confused by what I am looking at. The article simply labels it as "the worlds largest electron microscope" which is confusing because size is not really a measure of electron microscopy as far as I'm aware. Perhaps voltage or resolution? The contest took place at NIMS which is well known for EM but I've never seen any photos like that one: https://www.nims.go.jp/eng/research/group/electron-microscopy/index.html https://www.nims.go.jp/eng/research/group/electron-microscop... Anyways, if that's a TEM my guess is the contraption at the top is more about the source (providing high voltage to the emitter) than the optics. Optics don't require much power, a single electron is not difficult to manipulate at all. What's harder is getting a coherent electron beam at the voltage you need (i.e. 300 kV+).
- kalimanzaro 4y ago
  Oops I intended that as a pun on (the abuse of) the word 'optics' in PR/marketing/media/politics..
- SAI_Peregrinus 4y ago
  It looks like a Cockroft-Walton voltage multiplier. So it's the power source.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
tullatulla 4y ago
Those have nothing to do with the microscope. A STM is basically a very sharp needle flying just above the surface and measuring the tunneling current with a few volts applied at most. It's rather small, most space will be taken up by the vacuum chamber and cryostat. Other electron microscopes (TEM or SEM) cannot resolve molecules / or would fry them with their high voltage/currents...
- kalimanzaro 4y ago
  The article mentions that the race venue used to house the world's largest (traditional, HV) electron microscopes at one time. I thought it would be cool if these towers were actually for that but it seems likely the place is just a science museum of sorts now. Or maybe they are some sort of fancy (electrostatic) dust collector?
  - tullatulla 4y ago
    Oh yes you are right! That's apparently part of the first 1MeV TEM. Should be the high voltage source for the electron gun. The electron optics were most likely magnetic, not electrostatic. There is a whole movie about it: https://images.cnrs.fr/en/video/1257 https://images.cnrs.fr/en/video/1257 Later MeV TEMs looked very different, and are now replaced by aberration corrected tools...

It seems like that was where the event was held: https://www.cemes.fr/Nanocar-Race-II-1463?lang=en https://www.cemes.fr/Nanocar-Race-II-1463?lang=en Unclear if that's part of the equipment or not.

COGlory 4y ago

I am an electron microscopist and I am thoroughly confused by what I am looking at. The article simply labels it as "the worlds largest electron microscope" which is confusing because size is not really a measure of electron microscopy as far as I'm aware. Perhaps voltage or resolution? The contest took place at NIMS which is well known for EM but I've never seen any photos like that one: https://www.nims.go.jp/eng/research/group/electron-microscopy/index.html https://www.nims.go.jp/eng/research/group/electron-microscop... Anyways, if that's a TEM my guess is the contraption at the top is more about the source (providing high voltage to the emitter) than the optics. Optics don't require much power, a single electron is not difficult to manipulate at all. What's harder is getting a coherent electron beam at the voltage you need (i.e. 300 kV+).

kalimanzaro 4y ago
Oops I intended that as a pun on (the abuse of) the word 'optics' in PR/marketing/media/politics..
SAI_Peregrinus 4y ago
It looks like a Cockroft-Walton voltage multiplier. So it's the power source.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

tullatulla 4y ago

Those have nothing to do with the microscope. A STM is basically a very sharp needle flying just above the surface and measuring the tunneling current with a few volts applied at most. It's rather small, most space will be taken up by the vacuum chamber and cryostat. Other electron microscopes (TEM or SEM) cannot resolve molecules / or would fry them with their high voltage/currents...

kalimanzaro 4y ago
The article mentions that the race venue used to house the world's largest (traditional, HV) electron microscopes at one time. I thought it would be cool if these towers were actually for that but it seems likely the place is just a science museum of sorts now. Or maybe they are some sort of fancy (electrostatic) dust collector?
- tullatulla 4y ago
  Oh yes you are right! That's apparently part of the first 1MeV TEM. Should be the high voltage source for the electron gun. The electron optics were most likely magnetic, not electrostatic. There is a whole movie about it: https://images.cnrs.fr/en/video/1257 https://images.cnrs.fr/en/video/1257 Later MeV TEMs looked very different, and are now replaced by aberration corrected tools...