Vibration Dampener for Electron Microscope Specimen Holder

Abstract

H-Bar Instruments works to image and analyze materials with cryogenic-transmission electron microscopy. This involves cooling the material specimen using liquid helium, contained in a dewar connected to the sample in the microscope through a transferline. Due to helium's volatility, the dewar is a main source of vibrations to the system, causing nano vibrations which affect the quality of the images produced by the microscope. Our task is to design and produce a prototype to reduce disturbances affecting the specimen holder in the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and dewar system, by focusing on damping and isolating vibrations of the dewar.