The Arizona LaserChron Imaging lab hosted it's first TGMS Micromount meeting on the evening of May 13, 2013. A total of 12 people came for an evening of micromounting, pizza, and SEM imaging and analysis of their favorite mounts (or most elusive minerals). Frank Mazdab provided mineral identification expertise for all of the members that performed EDS on their sample. The following members were in attendance and pictured below - Ron Gibbs, George Stevens, Ken Don, John Gaston, Tim McClain, Pat McClain, John Ebner, Vera Schlichter, Mark Ascher, and Bob Jenkins (who ended the evening with "just one more sample" around midnight).

Over the past several months we have been creating a way for users to access and download their images from their home or work computers. During this time we have also been updating our Data and Image Archive to make it easier to find specific files. There are a few basic steps to follow in order to download your files: 1) Contact the lab Manager for a username and password; 2) Go to our Archive website and click on the secured link; 3) You will then see your different folders broken out by Image Type (BSE or CL) and then by year (if you are a returning user you may several different year folders); 4) Open the appropriate folder and your specific sample folder and download or view your files. Due to the large number of images taken for BSE, please allow time for downloading. If you have any problems, please contact the lab manager.

The lab has added to 46" Samsung LED TVs for small group training sessions, outreach, and campus tours. These screens are connected to the SEM and Oxford EDS/EBSD systems on the left and to the Gatan ChromaCL2 system on the right hand screen. We hope to start small group training sessions for graduate students, LaserChron visitors, and outreach programs later this spring and should be able to comfortably hold 8 to 10 people per group. This is a great way to show students how these systems work and what they can do (e.g., Mineralogy and Petrology lab groups) or show results to a specific group of researchers (e.g., RRUFF project or committee members). If you would like to schedule a small group session please contact the lab manager with the number of people and topic you would like for training.

We have upgraded our CL system to the new Gatan ChromaCL2 with UV and simultaneous BSE imaging capabilities. This upgrade will allow researchers to investigate samples that routinely do not show CL response in the RGB visible range but do show a UV response. The addition of the BSE detector in the mirror assembly will allow for collection of 7 different signals (UV, Red, Green, Blue, RGB, BSE, and SE) at the same time with the same scaling. Another new addition to this system is the Montage software package, allowing for the selection of a specific region to be imaged at a higher magnification (stage automated imaging) and then stitched together into a single mosaic. These new features will make it easier for researchers to construct layered images of their samples for more in-depth investigation and correlation between the different types of signals.

The Zigzag Capture has a continuous view capturing feature.  This program moves the motor-drive stage and captures multiple images automatically.  Connecting captured images allows you to make a wide observation of a specimen.  To connect the images together, Stitch is the software to use.  The installation of the two software will make the large area mapping a lot more viewing friendly.

After months of effort, going though a series of difficulties, the wrong position, the wrong model, the wrong design....finally, the right chamber scope was mounted at the right position yesterday!  Now the chamber scope sits on the back of the chamber which has a side view of the entire chamber that can see every detector inside to prevent collisions from happening!!!  Especially this will help us watch the distance between sample and detector for EBSD!  Check out the pictures!

I took a batch of the images of a mosquito..

http://sites.google.com/a/geoarizonasem.org/semsite/sem-album2

For some reason the mosquito seems to charge more than the fly did...