Electron diffraction and low-energy electron microscopy

The School of Physics has research interests in the development of electron microscopy techniques and their application to understanding the nanostructural evolution of semiconductor thin films, including the physics of quantum dot formation.

A $1.3M Low Energy Electron Microscope (LEEM) facility has recently been installed. This is the first instrument of its type in the Southern Hemisphere. Our LEEM can image surface nanostructure formation with high spatial resolution, typically several nanometers, at video rates and in the presence of incident fluxes of atoms or ions.

We also intend to use LEEM to address fundamental issues in electron matter wave manipulation using light forces and the trapping of atoms in optical lattices. The aim is to develop the instrument to image light beams, optical standing waves and gas phase fluctuations within optical lattices. It should then be possible to use the potential minima of optical lattices as novel environmental micro-cells for imaging gaseous phases in situ.

For further information, please contact David Jesson (David.Jesson@sci.monash.edu.au).