Light microscopy to 1000x for transparent, thin materials.
Fluorescence microscopy to 1000x for transparent, thin, fluorescent or fluorescently labeled materials.
Laser confocal microscopy to 1000x. Nikon C2 with 4 solid state laser confocal system and Ti2 fully motorized inverted microscope, high sensitivity GaAsP based spectral detectors with wavelength flexibility. Provides precise localization of fluorescence tagged molecules and inherent fluorescence in thick materials by eliminating out-of-focus information.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) operating model JSM-IT710HRLV provided by NSF-MRI grant in 2025. Capabilities include:
- SEM imaging with magnification 5x to 600,000x (print) and 14x to 1,680,000x (display) plus video recording,
- X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) to analyze chemical composition of coated and native materials,
- Everhart-Thornley type secondary electron detector (SE),
- Low vacuum secondary electron detector for imaging in low vacuum mode,
- High sensitivity multi-element solid state backscattered electron detector (BSE) for composition, topographic and variable shadow imaging with Real-Time 3D surface reconstruction,
- Cryo-SEM via Deben Coolstage ULTRA model for imaging of electron beam and vacuum sensitive materials such as fungi, plants, cells, etc. as well as soft or volatile samples and even liquids,
- EDAX velocity EBSD Analysis system for high-speed electron backscatter diffraction mapping and analysis of crystallographic structures in materials.
Transmission electron microscopy operating model JEM -120i capable of achieving a minimum magnification in TEM mode of 50x with a maximum magnification in TEM mode of 1,200,000x at 20-120kV variable accelerating voltage for ultra-thin sections of materials.
Gold or Platinum sputtering of nonconductive samples for SEM imaging using JEOL Auto Fine Coater with rotating and tilting specimen stage.
Critical Point Drying with LEICA EM CPD – is the state-of-the-art method to preserve sample morphology prior SEM imaging.
Precise ultrathin sectioning for TEM analysis using LEICA EM UC6 ultramicrotome.