The completion of a £3.5 million research facility means that the University of Huddersfield is established as one of Europe’s leading centres for the use of ion beams as a tool for the investigation of issues ranging from nuclear technology and nanoparticles to semiconductors and the effects of radiation exposure on materials in space.
Europe has three transmission electron microscopes with in situ ion beam research facilities and two of them are in Huddersfield. First came MIAMI – standing for Microscope and Ion Accelerator for Materials Investigations. It was designed and built by Professor Steve Donnelly, the University’s Dean of Computing and Engineering, Professor Jaap van den Berg of the International Institute for Accelerator Applications and Dr Jonathan Hinks, a Reader in Radiation Damage in Materials at the University.