About URC

Department Overview

Environmental Control Microscopy Department (Ito Campus)

The mission of this research department is to clarify, from the standpoint of electron microscope observation, the mechanisms whereby special material functions manifest themselves through various types of environmental control (e.g., temperature, pressure, magnetic field, electric field). The technologies serving as the basis of this research go beyond electron beam holography, i.e., crystallographic structural information, and elucidate the electrical potential and charge distributions exhibited by matter, and the singularities of magnetic structure and magnetization distributions. This research department also plays an important role in the progress of large projects, e.g., pioneering new research topics through the rapid improvement in sensitivity of electron beam holography due to the JST-CREST (information measurement) project started in the 2016 academic year, and the atomic scale electromagnetic field analysis platform project.
Efforts are also being made in close collaborative research with internal and external research organizations such as the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN).

  • Imaging of electrostatic potential and magnetic force lines of Fe3O4 nanoparticles Imaging of electrostatic potential and magnetic force lines of Fe3O4 nanoparticles
    Appl. Phys. Lett., 105 (2014) 183102.

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  • Analysis of grain boundary magnetism in Nd - Fe - B magnet. Analysis of grain boundary magnetism in Nd - Fe - B magnet.
    Acta Mater., 71 (2014) 370.

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  • Analysis of nucleation and growth process of ferromagnetic phase in Mn oxide. Analysis of nucleation and growth process of ferromagnetic phase in Mn oxide.
    Nature Nanotechnology, 5 (2010) 37.

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  • Demonstration of ferromagnetism (Fe - Al alloy) enhanced by lattice defects. Demonstration of ferromagnetism (Fe - Al alloy) enhanced by lattice defects.
    Nature Commun., 5 (2014) 4133.

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Multi-Dimensional Conformation Microscopy Department (Chikushi Campus)

In the Multi-Dimensional Conformation Microscopy Department, research is carried out to clarify the nanostructure of types whose actual state is difficult to adequately grasp through ordinary 2D observation, such as the domain-variant structure and diploid polycrystal structure of alloys. This is done based on 3D images, 3D diffraction information, and other data obtained using electron microscopes. Particular effort is being focused on the development of new 3D imaging technology using electron beam tomography realized by applying X-ray tomography (CT) to transmission electron microscopes (TEM/STEM), improving the sophistication of automated crystal orientation mapping (ACOM) technology based on multi-point recording and semi-automatic indexing of nanobeam electron diffraction, and applying ACOM to hard-to-observe samples. To realize new observation/analysis technologies, one naturally needs the electron microscope itself, but it is also necessary to develop sample holders and other peripheral equipment.In this department, active efforts are being made to develop such equipment, and recent examples of development include a real-time electron beam tomography system (installed in shared equipment of the university) realized through the JST Advanced System Development Program.

  • 3D observation of dislocations in ferromagnetic iron(left)and Dynamic 3D observation of tin lead solder alloy deformation(right) Fig. 1(Screenshot 2018-02-13 0.38.38)
    3D observation of dislocations in ferromagnetic iron(left)
    Dynamic 3D observation of tin lead solder alloy deformation(right)
    【References】
    K. L. Hasezaki et al., Ultramicroscopy, 182, 249-357 (2017).
    S. Hata et al., Microscopy, 66(2), 143-153 (2017).

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  • TEM-ACOM analysis of wire drawn pearlitic steel Fig. 2 (Screenshot 2018-02-13 0.39.01)
    TEM-ACOM analysis of wire drawn pearlitic steel
    (a) Map of degree of match between experimental and calculated diffraction pattern
    (b) Map of degree of reliability of results of crystal orientation analysis
    (c) Pseudo bright field image
    (d) Ferrite (α-Fe) orientation map
    【References】
    D. Hirakami et al., ISIJ International, 56, 893 (2016).

    (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

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