Following the completion of a £3.5m research facility, the University of Huddersfield has been 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.
Now referred to as MIAMI-1, the original facility was a bespoke combination of ion accelerator with an electron microscope, enabling nanoscale investigation of radiation damage, and is still a valuable research tool. But it has now been joined by the more powerful, versatile and much larger MIAMI-2, which has dual ion beams and greatly enhanced analytical capabilities.