Bigger, better, faster

Houston We Have A New Microscope: Helen Turner, the facility manager at Waikato University’s Electron Microscope Unit with the new Transmission Electron Microscope. It was one of two new microscopes officially opened recently at the university.
Photo: Myles McInnes.

Waikato University has unveiled two new microscopes to the world.

A $1 million Hitachi Scanning Electron Microscope replaces its 20-year-old predecessor and comes with a cryogenic preparation unit, allowing it to examine hydrated samples of materials such as liquids or plant matter. It is capable of viewing material down to less than a 1000th of a millimetre.

The other is a $500,000 Transmission Electron Microscope which can image ultra-thin samples of materials such as titanium, or very in-depth samples of biological matter.

Although they’ve been in use for nearly 18 months, the two microscopes were officially opened this month at the University of Waikato. Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Crawford said at the opening that it was critically important to have top-class equipment to do top-class work.

Says facility manager Helen Turner: “This new equipment expands the capability of the Electron Microscope Facility.” A vast amount of research around Waikato University relies on a microscopy facility such as this where everything from plants to shells to composite materials and titanium are imaged and analysed.

“These new systems are better and faster and will considerably cut down analysis time while allowing for larger data sets” Ms Turner says.

ENDS

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