MRI: Development of an Optical Super-resolution Instrument for Measuring Concentration Profiles and Diffusion Dynamics in Thin Films

MRI：开发用于测量薄膜中的浓度分布和扩散动力学的光学超分辨率仪器

• 批准号: 2215742
• 负责人: William Ducker
• 金额: $ 53.04万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215742&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Optical; Super; resolution

This is a project to develop an instrument that will enable new discoveries about material interfaces. A vast range of scientifically and technologically important processes occur at interfaces between solids and liquids. For example, the adhesion of one material to another, the cleaning and disinfection of hospital surfaces, the charging of batteries, and the recovery of oil are all processes that occur at interfaces between solids and liquids. The project will develop a new type of microscopy that will reveal the microscopic details of these interfaces in greater detail and at much greater speed than previously obtainable. The microscope will make it possible to observe changes in structure as quickly as one-millionth of a second. Such high speeds are required to help researchers understand and engineers improve industrial and medical processes that increase the nation’s productivity and well-being. An integral part of the project will be to train future generations of scientists and engineers. The project will provide training in the following areas (1) female high school students, (2) undergraduate students, and (3) students studying to complete Ph.D. programs. Such students go on to provide the workforce that is trained for work in high-tech industries as well as the future generation of researchers. The instrument developed in this project will implement a RESOLFT (Reversible Saturable Optical Fluorescence Transitions) optical super-resolution microscopy technique adapted to study the distribution and dynamics of fluorescently labelled species at solid–liquid interfaces. Specifically, the instrument will be optimized for the highest possible axial resolution through the interference of two counterpropagating beams focused at the interface, and make use of the Ground State Depletion (GSD) modality. It will enable axial resolution as high as 10 nm while studying time-evolution of processes down to 0.25 microseconds, all while maintaining lateral resolution of a standard confocal microscope. The combination of high-resolution profiling and fast time resolution allows the instrument to address a range of unmet characterization needs in materials science, surface science, electrochemistry, polymer science, and adjacent fields. Examples of systems that could be studied with the instrument include spatial distribution of polymers and ions, which is crucial for antimicrobial performance, interactions between biomolecules and interfaces, such as polymers with cell membranes, the dynamics of nanoparticle self-assembly on surfaces, which must be understood to harness self-assembly for practical applications, and dynamics of ion transport near electrodes, which is of great interest in batteries and other electrochemical systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这是一个开发一种工具的项目，该工具将使有关材料接口的新发现。在固体和液体之间的界面上发生了广泛的科学和技术上重要的过程。例如，一种材料对另一种材料的粘合剂，医院表面的清洁和消毒，电池充电以及油的回收都是在固体和液体之间的接口处发生的所有过程。该项目将开发一种新型的显微镜，显微镜将比以前获得的更大的速度揭示这些接口的微观细节。显微镜将使观察结构变化的变化迅速到一千万秒。需要这样的高速来帮助研究人员了解并改善工业和医学流程，从而提高国家的生产力和福祉。该项目不可或缺的一部分是培训子孙后代的科学家和工程师。该项目将在以下领域提供培训（1）女学生，（2）本科生，以及（3）学习获得博士学位的学生。程序。这样的学生继续提供在高科技行业以及未来一代研究人员中培训的劳动力。该项目中开发的仪器将实施分辨率（可逆的饱和光学荧光跃迁）光学超分辨率显微镜技术，该技术适应于研究固体液体界面处荧光标记物种的分布和动力学。具体而言，该仪器将通过干扰两个集中在界面上的反传播梁的干扰，并利用基态耗竭（GSD）模态来优化仪器。在研究降低到0.25微秒的过程的同时，在保持标准共聚焦显微镜的横向分辨率的同时，它将使轴向分辨率高达10 nm。高分辨率分析和快速分辨率的结合，该仪器可以解决材料科学，表面科学，电化学，聚合物科学和相邻领域的一系列未满足特征需求。可以与该仪器一起研究的系统的示例包括聚合物和离子的空间分布，这对于抗菌性能至关重要，这对于抗菌性能，生物分子和界面之间的相互作用，例如与细胞膜的聚合物（例如聚合物），纳米颗粒的动力学，在表面上进行自我运输的纳米颗粒的动态，以及对构成的效果，以及对态度进行的，以及动态的效果，以及实践的动态，以及练习的动力学，以及练习的动力学效果，以及态度的效果，效果效果效果，并且是态度上的动力。在电池和其他电化学系统中，该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来评估，被认为是珍贵的支持。