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Material Measurement Laboratory /Materials Measurement Science Division

Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Group

Performs research and develops metrology to advance, promote and ensure robust and quantitative microscopy and microanalysis to address stakeholder needs in diverse areas of materials science. Electron, ion, and photon interactions with matter are used to enable the compositional, structural, and morphological characterization of materials from the mesoscale to the atomic scale.

Activities

Blue rectangle with green line through it. Electron Solid Interaction Illustration.

Electron-Solid Interactions

Ongoing
A measuring instrument produces a signal that depends upon the value of the measurand. The value and its uncertainty are inferred from the signal by using a model of their relationship. Erroneous models lead to erroneous inference. The accuracy of SEM (scanning electron microscopy) is limited by...

Electronic Structure and Dynamics in Quantum Materials

Ongoing
Photoemission-based methods that interrogate solid state electronic structure have played a pivotal role in identifying and understanding key features of emerging materials. Band structure information from Angle-Resolved PhotoEmission Spectroscopy (ARPES) provided the first evidence for the d-wave...

Microplastic and Nanoplastic Metrology

Ongoing
The Micro and Nanoplastic (MNP) Metrology Project aims to develop a toolbox of methods for size-based separations from complex matrices, chemical characterization protocols, and test materials necessary to enable quantification of micro- and nano-sized plastic particles, a need articulated by our...

Pushing the Limits of Measurement Accuracy in Atom Probe Mass Spectrometry

Ongoing
Isotopic Analysis for Isotopic Geochemistry, Nuclear Safety, and Materials Science : Atom probe tomography has a significant advantage over other forms of mass spectrometry, which typically have a combined efficiency < 5%, in terms of ionization and detection efficiency. Commercial atom probe...
Set of five Si wafers, stacked vertically with the center wafer pull out to the left of the stack. This wafer has vertical and horizontal lines showing a dicing pattern, and illustrating that this wafer is to be diced for distribution as pieces instead of a whole wafer.

Thin Film RGTMs

Ongoing
Research Grade Test Materials (RGTMs) are a type of pre-standard developed by NIST as part of the development of Standard Reference Materials and as feedstock for Interlaboratory Studies. NIST is producing a series of thin film RGTMs for use in thin film characterization inter-comparison and as...
Catalyst Testbed

X-ray Testbed for Breakthrough Catalyst Measurements

Ongoing
Interested in collaborating? See below What does this project do for industry? Current measurement techniques are unable to follow the reaction pathways during catalysis and are limited to observing only the end products or looking at catalysts outside of realistic reaction conditions. Our new...

Publications

A formal Fe(III)/(V) redox couple in an intercalation electrode

Author(s)
Hari Ramachandran, Edward Mu, Eder Lomeli, Augustin Braun, Masato Goto, Kuan Hsu, Jue Liu, Zhelong Jiang, Kipil Lim, Grace Busse, Brian Moritz, Joshua Kas, John Vinson, John Rehr, Jungjin Park, Iwnetim Abate, Yuichi Shimakawa, Edward Solomon, Wanli Yang, William Gent, Thomas Devereaux, William Chueh
Iron redox cycling between low-valent oxidation states of FeII and FeIII drives crucial processes in nature. The FeII/III redox couple charge compensates the...

Non-resonant Two-photon X-ray Absorption in Cu

Author(s)
Joshua Kas, John Rehr, Joachim Stöhr, John Vinson
We present a real-space Green's function theory and calculations of two-photon x-ray absorption (TPA). Our focus is on nonresonant K-shell TPA in metallic Cu...

Software

DTSA II

NIST DTSA-II

NIST DTSA-II builds on the best available algorithms in the literature to simulate, quantify and plan energy dispersive x-ray analysis measurements.
The measured and calculated RIXS maps at the oxygen K edge of lithium peroxide

OCEAN

OCEAN is a versatile package for calculating both optical/UV and core-edge spectroscopy. It is a first-principles code based on both ground-state density

Tools and Instruments

NIST Transition Edge Sensor Microcalorimeter.

Microcalorimeter Detector

The NIST transition edge sensor microcalorimeter is energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer capable of ~5 eV resolution over a range of energies from hundreds to
Bruker D8 Defractometer, a general purpose X-ray diffraction system.

X-Ray Diffractometer

The Bruker D8 defractometer is a general purpose X-ray diffraction system. The instrument features easy reconfiguration of the X-ray optics for a variety of

Awards

Frederick Meisenkothen portrait

2022 Bronze Medal Award

Dr. Meisenkothen is honored for the development of standards-based techniques for atom probe tomography. Application of these techniques enables nanometer-scale mass spectrometry and imaging to be performed with previously unattainable levels of...
Image of Edward P. Vicenzi

Edward Vicenzi Honored by the Microanalysis Society

Edward Vicenzi is a NIST associate and research scientist at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI). His work involves using microbeam techniques to study of museum specimens and related materials to understand their...

News and Updates

Contacts

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