October_2021_AMP_Digital

A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | O C T O B E R 2 0 2 1 9 a powerful tool for research at smaller and smaller scales. ” anl.gov. ANALYZING WITH OPTICS A teamof scientists at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) in Korea developed a promising all-optical approach to analyze crystal structures in the bulk, interface, and surface of materials. The researchers employed their strategy to investigate thin films of SrRuO 3 , a metal oxide widely used as an electrode and in oxide engineering. The technique they used, called optical second-harmonic generation, is a non-contact and non- destructive optical method that in- volves shining a pulsed laser onto a material and measuring the generated second harmonic light, which reveals information about crystalline symme- tries. By changing the thickness and temperatures of SrRuO 3 samples, the scientists could suggest the structural phase diagram of the bulk, surface, and interface of the films. An important result is that it ap- pears the crystallographic symmetries of the surface and interface, at least TESTING | CHARACTERIZATION HIGHER RESOLUTION X-RAYS Researchers led by the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Ill., created a newmethod for improving the resolution of hard x-ray nanotomog- raphy. The team constructed a high-res- olution x-ray microscope using the powerful beams of the Advanced Pho- ton Source (APS) and developed new computer algorithms to compensate for issues encountered at tiny scales, such as sample drift and deformation. Using the new method, the team achieved a resolution below 10 nanometers. The capabilities of this instrument and technique will improve with a con- tinuing research and development effort on optics and detectors and will benefit from the in-progress upgrade of the APS. When complete, the upgraded facility will generate high-energy x-ray beams that are up to 500 times brighter than those currently possible, and fur- ther advances in x-ray optics will enable even narrower beams with higher reso- lution. “After the upgrade, we will push for eight nanometers and below,” the researchers say. “We hope this will be A study of SrRuO 3 thin film symmetries through second harmonic generation (SHG). Courtesy of GIST. Triangular holes make this material more likely to crack from left to right. Courtesy of N.R. Brodnik et al./ Phys. Rev. Lett. Smithers, Akron, Ohio, announces that its chemical and physical testing laboratories are now Nadcap accredited for nonmetallic materials testing. The company’s rubber, polymer, and composites testing lab offers a full suite of materials testing, chemical analysis, and sample preparation for a variety of industry sectors. smithers.com. BRIEF This plate with 16-nanometer-wide features was imaged in resolutions of less than 10 nanometers, allowing scientists to see the tiny defects in its shape. Courtesy of Vincent De Andrade.