NIST twists (and gifts)

The US National Institute of Science & Technology (NIST) are developing a route to employ electron vortices to improve the performance of transmission electron microscopes. Passing electrons through a nanometre-scale grating, the NIST group imparted the electron waves with significantly increased orbital momentum thus creating a potential route to increasing the resolution of a microscope. By employing this technique they hope to provide high-contrast, high-resolution images of, for example, biological samples which currently have a high level of transparency. In addition, US readers especially may be interested to note that NIST has launched a new competition for grants to support the construction of new or expanded scientific research facilities at institutions of higher education and non-profit scientific research organizations. The agency expects $20 million to be available for grants ranging from $5 to $10 million over a period of no more than five years. Further details via this link.