(interesting projects have included analysing arsenic in Napoleon Bonaparte's hair, Iceman's hair etc.)
New microprobes under construction
High resolution nuclear microprobe
My research projects at the University of Guelph require a new, high-resolution nuclear microprobe which we are currently building at the Department of Physics. This will be Canada's first one-micron nuclear microprobe, and will be state-of-the-art in Canada, dedicated to materials applications. The University of Guelph is the only facility in Canada to operate PIXE and micro-PIXE beamlines.
The new high-resolution proton microprobe will have a nominal resolution of one micron (a thousandth of a millimeter) for beam currents of several hundred
picoamps, and sub-micron resolution for low current applications such as direct-write lithography. It will be a crucial to studies and modification of
semiconductor materials.
External beamline
We are currently building an external microprobe which will be capable of analysing objects in air. This is highly desirable for large objects which are not suitable for vacuum, or delicate objects such as works of art, which cannot be sampled or damaged. Using PIXE in air will allow elemental analysis of these objects with no sample preparation required. There is currently an opening for a graduate student in developing this work further. See Graduate projects for more information.
