Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye. There are three well-known branches of microscopy: optical, electron, and scanning probe microscopy, along with the emerging field of X-ray microscopy.
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is the emission of characteristic "secondary" X-rays from a material that has been excited by being bombarded with high-energy X-rays or gamma rays. The phenomenon is widely used for elemental analysis and chemical analysis, particularly in the investigation of metals, glass, ceramics and building materials, and for research in geochemistry, forensic science, archaeology and art objects such as paintings.
In X-ray crystallography, wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) or wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) is the analysis of Bragg peaks scattered to wide angles, which are caused by sub-nanometer-sized structures. It is an X-ray-diffraction method and commonly used to determine a range of information about crystalline materials. The term WAXS is commonly used in polymer sciences to differentiate it from SAXS but many scientists doing "WAXS" would describe the measurements as Bragg/X-ray/powder diffraction or crystallography.
Wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy is a non-destructive analysis technique used to obtain elemental information about a range of materials by measuring characteristic x-rays within a small wavelength range. The technique generates a spectrum in which the peaks correspond to specific x-ray lines and elements can be easily identified. WDS is primarily used in chemical analysis, wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF) spectrometry, electron microprobes, scanning electron microscopes, and high precision experiments for testing atomic and plasma physics.
Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, sometimes called energy dispersive X-ray analysis or energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDXMA), is an analytical technique used for the elemental analysis or chemical characterization of a sample. It relies on an interaction of some source of X-ray excitation and a sample. Its characterization capabilities are due in large part to the fundamental principle that each element has a unique atomic structure allowing a unique set of peaks on its electromagnetic emission spectrum. The peak positions are predicted by the Moseley's law with accuracy much better than experimental resolution of a typical EDX instrument.
X-ray spectroscopy is a general term for several spectroscopic techniques for characterization of materials by using x-ray radiation.
Venera 14 was a probe in the Soviet Venera program for the exploration of Venus.
An electron microprobe (EMP), also known as an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) or electron micro probe analyzer (EMPA), is an analytical tool used to non-destructively determine the chemical composition of small volumes of solid materials. It works similarly to a scanning electron microscope: the sample is bombarded with an electron beam, emitting x-rays at wavelengths characteristic to the elements being analyzed. This enables the abundances of elements present within small sample volumes to be determined, when a conventional accelerating voltage of 15-20 kV is used. The concentrations of elements from lithium to plutonium may be measured at levels as low as 100 parts per million (ppm), material dependent, although with care, levels below 10 ppm are possible. The ability to quantify lithium by EPMA became a reality in 2008.
A diffractometer is a measuring instrument for analyzing the structure of a material from the scattering pattern produced when a beam of radiation or particles interacts with it.
Powder diffraction is a scientific technique using X-ray, neutron, or electron diffraction on powder or microcrystalline samples for structural characterization of materials. An instrument dedicated to performing such powder measurements is called a powder diffractometer.
The hard X-ray nanoprobe at the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), Argonne National Lab advanced the state of the art by providing a hard X-ray microscopy beamline with the highest spatial resolution in the world. It provides for fluorescence, diffraction, and transmission imaging with hard X-rays at a spatial resolution of 30 nm or better. A dedicated source, beamline, and optics form the basis for these capabilities. This unique instrument is not only key to the specific research areas of the CNM; it will also be a general utility, available to the broader nanoscience community in studying nanomaterials and nanostructures, particularly for embedded structures.
An X-ray telescope (XRT) is a telescope that is designed to observe remote objects in the X-ray spectrum. X-rays are absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, so instruments to detect X-rays must be taken to high altitude by balloons, sounding rockets, and satellites.
An X-ray microscope uses electromagnetic radiation in the soft X-ray band to produce images of very small objects.
Andor Technology Ltd is a global developer and manufacturer of high-performance scientific cameras, microscopy systems and spectrographs for academic, government, and industrial applications. Founded in 1989, the company's products play a central role in the advancement of research in the fields of life sciences, physical sciences, and industrial applications. Andor was purchased for £176 million in December 2013 by Oxford Instruments. The company is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland and now employs over 400 staff across the group at its offices in Belfast, Japan, China, Switzerland and the US.
JEOL, Ltd. is a major developer and manufacturer of electron microscopes and other scientific instruments, industrial equipment and medical equipment.
Iron-55 (55Fe) is a radioactive isotope of iron with a nucleus containing 26 protons and 29 neutrons. It decays by electron capture to manganese-55 and this process has a half-life of 2.737 years. The emitted X-rays can be used as an X-ray source for various scientific analysis methods, such as X-ray diffraction. Iron-55 is also a source for Auger electrons, which are produced during the decay.
Miniflex is an X-ray diffraction (XRD) analytical measuring instrument produced by Rigaku. The current instrument is the fourth in a series introduced in 1973.
Pittcon Editors’ Awards honoured the best new products on show at the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, or Pittcon, for 20 years from 1996 having been established by Dr Gordon Wilkinson, managing editor of Analytical Instrument Industry Report. On 8 March 2015, the event returned to the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans and this was the last occasion when the awards were presented.
Malvern Panalytical is a Spectris plc company. The company is a manufacturer and supplier of laboratory analytical instruments. It has been influential in the development of the Malvern Correlator, and it remains notable for its work in the advancement of particle sizing technology. The company produces technology for materials analysis and principal instruments designed to measure the size, shape and charge of particles. Additional areas of development include equipment for rheology measurements, chemical imaging and chromatography. In 2017, they merged with PANalytical to form Malvern Panalytical Ltd.
The "Centre d’Élaboration de Matériaux et d’Etudes Structurales" (CEMES) is a CNRS laboratory located in Toulouse, France.
