Page 36 - Research & Innovation Report 2020
P. 36

SCIENCE








































            CHRTEM building

            Dr Olivier has worked with electron detector technology in the UK
            and Germany where it has been available for a few years. “I’ve
            been motivating for South Africa to invest in it as there is a huge
            demand here and internationally for this research. The new system,
            which includes a detector, holder and camera, is an upgrade in
            the technology of our aberration-corrected transmission electron
            microscope, which is still excellent and world-class but is getting
            older. The upgrade allows us to remain cutting edge.”

            Whereas previous cameras converted incident electrons to light
            to produce images, the UK-manufactured Merlin for EM detector   Merlin camera
            can detect electrons directly, greatly improving sensitivity,
            without background noise. This produces a significantly improved   The pandemic delayed the arrival of the system, but it is finally
            signal and the speed with which it provides results is a dramatic   here and there is huge excitement at the CHRTEM as Dr Olivier
            enhancement.                                      and the CHRTEM team set it up and start testing it.
























            Double aberration corrected transmission electron microscope



               |
            34|
            34
   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41