Congratulations to the winners of our third user image contest! The next contest will be held in spring 2020.
1st Place, Ahmet Emre, “The Social Network” (FEI Helios 650 Nanolab SEM/FIB)
The image is of methylated DNA, aesthetically edited to represent colorful social network nodes and ties.
Runners-Up:
Kathleen Chou, “Bubble Wrap” (FEI Helios for FIB Tomography, Avizo software)
This is a focused ion beam tomography reconstruction of a Titanium-Niobium alloy with elevated oxygen content obtained using an oxidation exposure showing rod shaped omega precipitates. Precipitates are outlined as nano bubbles in the reconstruction using Avizo software.
Nicole Olson, “Soccer Balls” (FEI Helios 650 Nanolab SEM/FIB)
Brochosomes are submicron granules excreted from insects in the family Cicadellidae. These waxy, hydrophobic compounds help keep the insect body dry.
Saman Moniri, “Faceted Spiral” (Micropillar prepared on FEI Helios 650 Nanolab)
The image shows a close-up view of a spiral eutectic colony in the Zn-Mg alloy system. The microstructure of the spiral was examined in 3D via x-ray nano tomography, and the analysis (segmentation) was performed with machine learning. A spiral colony is extracted, and its surrounding is rendered translucent orange for clarity. The gradation in the spiral’s color is due to the false coloring scheme used for visual clarity. The 3D reconstruction provides a wealth of information: (i) the outline of the colony is hexagonal (green overlay) throughout, indicating that the crystallographic anisotropy of the eutectic MgZn2 phase plays an important role during solidification; (ii) the spirals are characterized by an intra facet angle ϕ = 10° (black lines) and a dihedral angle 2θ = 18°; (iii) the spiral is terminated at a common nucleation (determined to be a polytetrahedral phase); and (iv) the spiraling lamellae form continuous, parallel sheets of uniform thickness.
