Pulsed Power for a Dynamic Transmission Electron Microscope

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has converted a commercial 200kV transmission electron microscope (TEM) into an ultrafast, nanoscale diagnostic tool for material science studies. The resulting Dynamic Transmission Electron Microscope (DTEM) has provided a unique tool for the study of material phase transitions, reaction front analyses, and other studies in the fields of chemistry, materials science, and biology. The TEM's thermionic electron emission source was replaced with a fast photocathode and a laser beam path was provided for ultraviolet surface illumination. The resulting photoelectron beam gives downstream images of 2 and 20 ns exposure times at 100 and 10 nm spatial resolution. A separate laser, used as a pump pulse, is used to heat, ignite, or shock samples while the photocathode electron pulses, carefully time-synchronized with the pump, function as probe in fast transient studies. The device functions in both imaging and diffraction modes. A laser upgrade is underway to make arbitrary cathode pulse trains of variable pulse width of 10-1000 ns. Along with a fast e-beam deflection scheme, a 'movie mode' capability will be added to this unique diagnostic tool. This talk will review conventional electron microscopy and its limitations, discuss the development and capabilities of DTEM, in particularly more » addressing the prime and pulsed power considerations in the design and fabrication of the DTEM, and conclude with the presentation of a deflector and solid-state pulser design for Movie-Mode DTEM. « less