Have Questions?
It’s still early days for turboTEM, but here are some of the common questions and answers we hear. If your question isn’t listed, please get in touch with the contact form.
Digital Pulse Read-out
How is the Pulse unit connected to the microscope?
The Pulse unit is connected to the analog outputs from the instrument’s existing detectors. This is most easily done by T-ing into the BNC connectors between these detectors and the acquisition unit (e.g. Digiscan). As the signal is read via such a “T”, the existing analog images still appear on the microscope as before and may be collected fully simultaneously with the new digital images.
How many channels does the Pulse read-out module support?
The current implementation supports two channels in and two digital streams out. This means that the operator can collect, for example, HAADF and MAADF images with the current version. A four channel version is planned for the future and people can express interest via our contact form.
What scan-controllers / acquisition systems does the Pulse system work with?
The digital signals are transmitted using an industry-standard TTL digital line. This means that the Pulse unit is compatible with any acquisition system that is capable of recording digital ‘ones’. The Pulse system has been tested using the Gatan Digiscan 2* and pointElectronic ‘DISS6’ acquisition systems. The Pulse unit will also be forward compatible with any counting image acquisition system such as the Gatan DigiScan 3*.
* DigiScan is a trademark of Gatan Inc.
User Adjustable Pole-piece (UAP)
What systems will the user adjustable pole-piece be available on?
We are initially designing the UAP to work with JEOL microscopes operating at both 200kV and 300kV. In the future, we plan to extend the technology to also work with 120kV JEOL systems.
Can the pole-piece be added to existing microscopes or only new installs?
The pole-piece design is easily added to new instruments during their assembly, but it can be retrofitted to existing microscopes as well.
When will the UAP be available?
This kind of precision engineering can’t be rushed and we have lots of tests and refinements to make. We are hoping to present experimental results in the next year and go from there. Some selected partners may be invited to act as testing sites, so if you are interested in being the first to try the UAP, let us know via the contact form.
Will the UAP be compatible with existing EDX detectors and TEM holders?
We expect that the UAP will be compatible with the majority of existing EDX detectors and conventional and in-situ holders. In the future, both of these may need to be optimised to take full advantage of the UAP’s adjustable gap.
Where can I sign up for updates about the progress?
Right now we don’t have a mail-list for updates, but you can follow us on Twitter via @turboTEM where we share the most recent developments.
Are any of the preliminary works published?
We are still preparing our next manuscript, but some early discussion was submitted for the EMC meeting: Patrick McBean, David O’Mahony and Lewys Jones, “Development of a User Adjustable Pole-piece Gap Objective-lens”, DOI:10.22443/rms.emc2020.322.
Will the UAP team be presenting at any upcoming conferences?
We are hoping to show our recent progress at several meetings in 2022 including; MSI, JSM, M&M and MCM.