Abstract: A two-dimensional formalism is provided for analyzing the probe–sample interaction of optical near-field images in transmission mode. The numerical simulation is performed on a dielectric surface with sub-wavelength structures. The constant-height, near-field intensity through two Gaussian ridges has been calculated for p-polarized incident light. The influence on the signal by the dielectric function of the probe, the size of the scatterers, and the angle of incidence is investigated. The passive probe model is compared when equipped with and without the tip and the near-field intensity is simultaneously calculated.

The Analytical Instrumentation Facility (AIF) is a laboratory composed of scientists and engineers specializing in the development and application of advanced techniques for materials characterization (http://spm.aif.ncsu.edu/aif/index.html)http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=43210. AIF facilities include an extensive collection of analytical instrumentation utilized in teaching, research, and in support of academic and industrial programs. General forms of analysis include: electron, ion, and photon microscopies, surface science and analysis, and scanned probe microscopies. An abbreviated listing of AIF capabilities follows: metallography/sample preparation, optical microscopy, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS), Secondary Electron Microscopy (SEM), Scanned Probe Microscopy (SPM), Micro-Raman Spectroscopy, Focused Ion Beam Micro-machining (FIBM), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS or ESCA).

AIF is a resource utilized not only by those within NC State requiring analytical services, but also by a large number of North Carolina non-profit and industrial organizations as well as the Materials Community at large.

We report here a specific type of edge strength anisotropy observed in field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) images. The images show weaker edge gradients in the scanning direction and hence these edges frequently go undetected. Direct application of edge detection algorithms to images with nondistinct edges, such as powder particles, show strong bias to edges perpendicular to the scanning direction. Edge orientation polarograms obtained from these images always show strong fictitious particle orientation in the scanning direction. In this work, we discuss an edge-sharpening algorithm that corrects for this bias and results in relatively more accurate and consistent edge orientation information.

Abstract: Using standard square mesh grids as supports, we have prepared sol-gel membranes from a functionalized silane precursor, bis[3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl]tetrasulfide in various organic solvents. These mesh-supported membranes allow direct characterization of their microstructure and morphology by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Homogeneous membranes without prominent microstructural features (or featureless) at nanometer scale were obtained from dimethyl formamide (DMF), isopropanol, and butanol solutions. However, highly porous membranes were produced from DMF and ethylene glycol binary system. Heterogeneous membranes filled with nanoparticles were formed from dimethyl sulfoxide solution. The featureless sol-gel membranes with tunable performances provide a useful alternative as supporting films for TEM applications.

In addition to dinosaur bones and gem collections, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is also home to nine academic research departments: Anthropology, Herpetology, Mammalogy, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Ichthyology, Ornithology, Entomology, Invertebrates, and Vertebrate Paleontology. Each of these departments supports curators, research scientists and assistants, graduate students, and post-docs engaged in a broad spectrum of research activities.

The Core Microscopy Facility houses a state-of-the-art Cold Field Emission SEM equipped with an energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer. This instrument is extremely versatile, as it must be in order to meet the challenges of a diverse imaging and microanalytical environment. Our applications run the gamut from high-resolution electron imaging of insect parts to quantitative x-ray microanalysis of 5 billion-year-old meteorites.

Mineral scientists, archeologists, anthropologists, and artifact conservators use X-ray microanalysis extensively at the AMNH. Current projects include the analysis of chondrites (meteorites that condensed at the same time as the solar system), Neolithic pottery remains, and pigment fragments from Native American artwork.

In June of 1995, the first conference on Fluorescent Microscopy and Fluorescent Probes was held in the beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic and the proceedings of that meeting were published by Plenum Press in 1996 (Fluorescence Microscopy and Fluorescent Probes, Vol. 1, edited by Jan Slavík). Based on the success of the first conference, a second conference was held two years later again in Prague, and this book is the proceedings of that meeting.

The recent observation of Bucky-tubes by S. Iijima using a transmission electron microscope (TEM) represents the first occasion in which a useful new material, subsequently available in commercial quantities, has been discovered by high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM). More commonly, the HREM method has been used for microcharacterization of materials at the atomic level, and for phase identification of submicrometer-sized microphases and polytypes.

At first glance, this book seems to come up short with regard to the application of electron microscopy in biological sciences. However, one has to consider that it is part of a series on molecular biology. The purpose here was not to collect a large variety of techniques related to electron microscopy but rather to focus on methods in molecular morphology. In this context, the book offers 15 short (some very short) chapters dealing with morphological approaches related to and used in molecular biology.

When a new textbook on transmission electron microscopy is published and all of one's colleagues, established research scientists and graduate students alike, immediately go out and buy a copy–some even using their own money–then that is probably the best recommendation a book can ever get!

The Materials Microcharacterization Collaboratory (MMC), a pilot project of the DOE2000 program, links DOE-sponsored electron microscope user facilities at ANL, LBNL, ORNL and UIUC with that at NIST to form one collaboratory. The MMC brings the microcharacterization and microanalysis tools available in these national centers to geographically-dispersed researchers working in industries,universities, and government laboratories. It enables remote users to share on-line the instrumentation, knowledge and expertise available at the individual facilities making up the collaboratory.

On-line services available to users of the MMC may be classified as instrument, computational, and exchange services (fig. 1). LBNL's contribution to the MMC's instrumentation includes a Kratos EM-1500 HVEM (for remote in-situ high-voltage microscopy) and a Philips CM300 HREM (remote highresolution capability). DeepView is an exchange service that provides a common graphical userinterface (GUI) for control of MMC instruments over the wide area network (both the client and server sides of DeepView are available for download).

Magnetic elements in the micron and sub-micron size range are important for application as discrete bits in high density storage systems and as the active part of ultra-small magnetic sensors of the kind required in read heads. Patterning techniques based around electron beam lithography are used to fabricate elements with different sizes and shapes and TEM allows the magnetisation distributions they support to be investigated. Figure 1 shows a regular domain structure in a rectangular element of length 1μm. Of particular importance is the ability to observe directly how the elements respond to an applied field and thereby to gain information on magnetisation processes. When the fields required are in excess of a few 100 Oe, it is most convenient to use the vertical field of the objective lens. Field components in the specimen plane are then generated by tilting. For this technique to be effective it must be possible to choose an objective field strength appropriate to the elements under study and to have separate non-immersion lenses (Lorentz lenses) as the primary imaging or probeforming components.

This volume comprises four articles on widely divergent topics and of equally divergent practicality. The first article, by P.E. Champness, is on the application of transmission electron microscopy to mineralogy; analytical electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy are discussed. If you are a mineralogist who is interested in the kinds of results these techniques can provide, or if you are an expert in transmission electron microscopy who wants to drum up business from the geology department in your institution, you will find useful information here.