In the workspace, the transmission electron microscope is protected from electromagnetic interference fields so that measurement results cannot be falsified. Image: Empa
In the workspace, the transmission electron microscope is protected from electromagnetic interference fields so that measurement results cannot be falsified. Image: Empa - As head of Empa's Electron Microscopy Center, Rolf Erni has to balance many tasks: negotiating industrial contracts, promoting young scientists, teaching, supporting researchers at other Empa labs. And fascinating fundamental research, for which he has been honored as one of the very few Distinguished Senior Researchers at Empa. If you google what Rolf Erni actually does, you have to be prepared for polysyllabic words. "We employ atomic-resolution imaging, mostly in STEM mode, combined with local electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, as well as off-axis electron holography" - food for thought from the Electron Microscopy Center's website, at which even trained researchers are likely to frown. "This is not rocket science," Rolf Erni likes to say then, as he did recently at a talk about his work - a reassuring understatement that probably stems from his research stint in the US. In other words, this is not highly sophisticated research for a select few, nor is it an impossibility for the normally gifted.
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