Modifying the antibacterial performance of cu surfaces by topographic patterning in the micro- and nanometer scale.

Antimicrobial surfaces are a promising approach to reduce the spread of pathogenic microorganisms in various critical environments. To achieve high antimicrobial functionality, it is essential to consider the material-specific bactericidal mode of action in conjunction with bacterial surface interactions. This study investigates the effect of altered contact conditions on the antimicrobial efficiency of Cu surfaces against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.

Coupling of single nanodiamonds hosting SiV color centers to plasmonic double bowtie microantennas.

Color centers are promising single-photon emitters owing to their operation at room temperature and high photostability. In particular, using nanodiamonds as a host material is of interest for sensing and metrology. Furthermore, being a solid-state system allows for incorporation to photonic systems to tune both the emission intensity and photoluminescence spectrum and therefore adapt the individual color center to desired properties.

Coupling of single nanodiamonds hosting SiV color centers to plasmonic double bowtie microantennas.

Color centers are promising single-photon emitters owing to their operation at room temperature and high photostability. In particular, using nanodiamonds as a host material is of interest for sensing and metrology. Furthermore, being a solid-state system allows for incorporation to photonic systems to tune both the emission intensity and photoluminescence spectrum and therefore adapt the individual color center to desired properties.

A FIB-SEM Based Correlative Methodology for X-Ray Nanotomography and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry: An Application Example in Lithium Batteries Research.

Correlative microscopy approaches are attracting considerable interest in several research fields such as materials and battery research. Recent developments regarding X-ray computer tomography have made this technique available in a compact module for scanning electron microscopes (SEMs). Nano-computed tomography (nanoCT) allows morphological analysis of samples in a nondestructive way and to generate 2D and 3D overviews.

Quantitative nanoscale imaging using transmission He ion channelling contrast: Proof-of-concept and application to study isolated crystalline defects.

A newly developed microscope prototype, namely npSCOPE, consisting of a Gas Field Ion Source (GFIS) column and a position sensitive Delay-line Detector (DLD) was used to perform Scanning Transmission Ion Microscopy (STIM) using keV He ions. One experiment used 25 keV ions and a second experiment used 30 keV ions. STIM imaging of a 50 nm thick free-standing gold membrane exhibited excellent contrast due to ion channelling and revealed rich microstructural features including isolated nanoscale twin bands which matched well with the contrast in the conventional ion-induced Secondary Electron (SE) imaging mode.

Ni/Al-Hybrid Cellular Foams: An Interface Study by Combination of 3D-Phase Morphology Imaging, Microbeam Fracture Mechanics and In Situ Synchrotron Stress Analysis.

Nickel(Ni)/aluminium(Al) hybrid foams are Al base foams coated with Ni by electrodeposition. Hybrid foams offer an enhanced energy absorption capacity. To ensure a good adhering Ni coating, necessary for a shear resistant interface, the influence of a chemical pre-treatment of the base foam was investigated by a combination of an interface morphology analysis by focused ion beam (FIB) tomography and in situ mechanical testing.

Correlative Site-Specific Sample Preparation for Atom Probe Tomography on Complex Microstructures.

Site-specific specimen preparation for atom probe tomography (APT) is a challenging task. Small features need to be located using a suitable imaging technique and captured within a volume of less than 0.01 μm3.

In-Depth Investigation of Copper Surface Chemistry Modification by Ultrashort Pulsed Direct Laser Interference Patterning.

Surface patterning in the micro- and nanometer-range by means of pulsed laser interference has repeatedly proven to be a versatile tool for surface functionalization. With these techniques, however, the surface is often changed not only in terms of morphology but also in terms of surface chemistry. In this study, we present an in-depth investigation of the chemical surface modification occurring during surface patterning of copper by ultrashort pulsed direct laser interference patterning (USP-DLIP).

Objective homogeneity quantification of a periodic surface using the Gini coefficient.

The significance of periodic surface structuring methods, such as direct laser interference patterning, is growing steadily. Thus, the ability to objectively and consistently evaluate these surfaces is increasingly important. Standard parameters such as surface roughness or the arithmetic average height are meant to quantify the deviation of a real surface from an ideally flat one.

Feature Adaptive Sampling for Scanning Electron Microscopy.

A new method for the image acquisition in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was introduced. The method used adaptively increased pixel-dwell times to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in areas of high detail. In areas of low detail, the electron dose was reduced on a per pixel basis, and a-posteriori image processing techniques were applied to remove the resulting noise.

Deterministic coupling of a single silicon-vacancy color center to a photonic crystal cavity in diamond.

Deterministic coupling of single solid-state emitters to nanocavities is the key for integrated quantum information devices. We here fabricate a photonic crystal cavity around a preselected single silicon-vacancy color center in diamond and demonstrate modification of the emitters internal population dynamics and radiative quantum efficiency. The controlled, room-temperature cavity coupling gives rise to a resonant Purcell enhancement of the zero-phonon transition by a factor of 19, coming along with a 2.

One- and two-dimensional photonic crystal microcavities in single crystal diamond.

Diamond is an attractive material for photonic quantum technologies because its colour centres have a number of outstanding properties, including bright single photon emission and long spin coherence times. To take advantage of these properties it is favourable to directly fabricate optical microcavities in high-quality diamond samples. Such microcavities could be used to control the photons emitted by the colour centres or to couple widely separated spins.