Ion beam analysis and modification of materials | Department of Physics

Ion beam analysis and modification of materials

Gary Glass' research has utilized several types of electrostatic accelerators, including topics such as particle-induced x ray emission spectroscopy (PIXE), time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA), nuclear resonance scattering (NRS), Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), Rutherford forward spectrometry(RFS). For the last two decades my work has concentrated on development and applications of high energy focused ion beam (HEFIB) systems and techniques, particularly for bio-systems analysis and microfabrication. Recent work has included the application of proton microscopy to study elemental distributions in and around single biological cells in rat brains. Using a recently developed system (patent application (63/507,883), IBL (https://physics.unt.edu/ibl) has been able to use PIXE to reliably quantify elements with mass as low as boron in organic and inorganic matrices. Development of this low-Z quantification technique to proton microscopy is expected soon, thus allowing, for the first time investigate ion detail how individual brain cells functionally distribute ions such as sodium.