The MIDAS project at ASU: John Cowley's vision and practical results
J.A. Venables, G.G. Hembree, J. Drucker, P.A. Crozier and M.R. Scheinfein
J. Electron Microscopy (2005) preprint as submitted
Abstract
A review is given of the conception and development of the MIDAS system at
Arizona State University: a Microscope for Imaging, Diffraction and Analysis of
Surfaces. John Cowley's vision in the early 1980's was ambitious and far-reaching,
and he was the reason why the authors came to ASU. We were centrally involved
in design and implementation of MIDAS from the mid-eighties onwards; the novel
design features are briefly reviewed. Practical results, obtained using this
instrument are listed, and the scope for future development and applications
are indicated. While it is clear that many new results have been demonstrated,
even more possibilities still remain to be explored. Some comments are made
about the feasibility of such developments in the light of competing instrumentation.
Latest version of this document: 14th February 2005.