The Dublin Lens: A Cc=1.0 mm Objective Lens for CryoEM at 100 keV.
Many modern cryoEM instruments are prohibitively expensive for smaller labs, or for simple screening tasks. Following the success of the ‘CryoEM-100 project’ led by MRC LMB, the turboTEM team have designed, fabricated and tested a lens with chromatic aberration coefficient (Cc) of 1.0 mm, a 4.0 mm pole-gap and 2.0 mm bore that is wide enough to accommodate an anti-contamination system and an objective aperture. This lens extends the temporal-coherence envelope of the electron microscope well beyond 2 Angstroms, using a low-cost Schottky FEG. This lens design can be used to improve all 100 keV electron microscopes designed for single-particle electron cryomicroscopy (cryoEM). Further details are described in the research manuscript [1].
Illustration of a transmission electron microscope objective-lens; showing the copper wire coils, outer magnetic circuit, and pole-piece with pole-gap. (b) Photograph of the Dublin lens installed in a JEOL 1400/HR at the MRC-LMB. The specimen rod is visible extending from the rear on the right. The objective aperture strip extends from the front on the right.
[1] Motta Alves, G., Andrews, T., McBean, P., Wells, T., El-Gomati, M., Burkhalter, S., Schulze-Briese, C., Zambon, P., McMullan, G., Henderson, R., Russo, C. and Jones, L. (2025) “The Dublin lens: a Cc = 1.0 mm objective lens intended for CryoEM at 100 keV”. Methods in Microscopy. https://doi.org/10.1515/mim-2025-0019
