The team led by Professor Tang Wenxin of the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Chongqing University has successfully developed the aberration corrected spin polarized low energy electron microscope (ac-SPLEEM) and issued an Ultramicroscopy cover paper under the title “Aberration corrected spin polarized low energy electron microscope” the other day. The research project has been supported by both the earmarked funds for national major instrument projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the operating expense for basic scientific researches in colleges and universities allocated by the central government to Chongqing University.

The ac-SPLEEM developed by Professor Tang Wenxin’s team in collaboration with scholars from Shanghai Tech University and Fudan University has opened a new chapter for in situ ultrafast high resolution surface physicochemistry. In the acceptance test site, the transverse magnetic resolution of this device was as high as 3 nm, which is about 7 times higher than the 20 nm resolution recorded in the history; meanwhile, the resolution of TR-ac-LEEM reached 3.2nm in ultrafast mode and 9nm in the self-spin mode. This is the first time to realize ultrafast low-energy electron microscopy and detect the surface of ultra-thin magnetic samples. The breakthrough in this series of detection technologies provides ultra-high resolution microscopic means for the research and development of ultrafast surface science and high-density storage materials in the future.