UCC Analytical Facilities
JEOL IT100 VP-SEM
Scanning electron microscopy is used to visualise nanometre- to micron-sized structures in materials and spatial variation in inorganic chemistry. The UCC JEOL IT100 VP-SEM has a dedicated low-vacuum secondary electron detector to allow acquisition of high-resolution secondary electron images of structures on uncoated samples when operating at low vacuum. It has a 30 mm diameter EDS detector for chemical analysis and an integratrated STEM detector for imaging structures on ultrathin sections on TEM grids.
Perkin Elmer Spotlight 400 IR Microscope
Fourier Transform Infrafred Spectroscopy (FTIR) is used extensively for in-situ non-destructive characterization of the inorganic and organic chemistry of geological materials. Analyses can be done in reflected or transmitted modes in the mid to near IR range. The Perkin Elmer Spotlight 400i IR microscope allows high-resolution mapping of spatial distributions of organic moieties and minerals in thin sections and in untreated rock and fossil samples up to ca. A4 size and several centimetres thick. The linear array detector enables fast mapping and quantification and the ATR detector provides 4x spatial resolution (as low as 1.56 um) in regions up to 1.2 x 1.2 mm2.
Renishaw inVia Confocal Raman Microscope
Raman spectroscopy can identify minerals and their polymorphic forms, identify and differentiate other organic and inorganic materials and identify inclusions within transparent materials. Renishaw's Raman systems are compatible with most standard geological sample including unprepared raw samples, polished blocks and thin sections. Renishaw's inVia confocal Raman microscope is highly confocal and can resolve sub-micrometre scale features. Its HSES motorised stage enables you to analyse large samples, hundreds of millimetres across. Renishaw's WiRE software can manage Raman images consisting of over 50 million spectra providing high spatial resolution and large area coverage.
For further information on the above facilities please contact Dr Maria McNamara - maria.mcnamara@ucc.ie
Provenance facilities:
Dell Precision 5820 3-D data visualisation workstation
Dedicated desktop computer optimised for the visualisation and analysis of large, 3-dimensional data sets. The workstation is equipped with an advanced graphics processing unit (Nvidia RTX A6000), large in situ digital data storage and RAM, and software packages designed for latency-free performance. Software packages include Dragonfly and SPIERS for tomographic visualisation, and Meshroom for photogrammetric datasets. (Funded by the Geological Survey of Ireland.)