Earth Materials Characterization Center
The Earth Materials Characterization Center was created to consolidate materials physics general-use facilities under one centralized Earth and Planetary Sciences center, to offer assistance to all students and postdocs in their sample characterization work. All the equipment presented below are located in Kline Geology Laboratory (KGL).
Contact specialists for more information or request access
Personnel :
(Core Director) Jennifer Girard : jennifer.girard@yale.edu
Research Scientist/ High-Pressure Lab manager, FTIR Raman and X-ray, Earth & Planetary Sciences
Jim Eckert : james.eckert@yale.edu
Research Associate, Earth & Planetary Sciences, (EPMA Specialist)
Zhenting Jiang : zhenting.jiang@yale.edu
Research Associate/Lab Manager, SEM (TEM), FTIR and Raman, Earth & Planetary Sciences, (SEM Specialist)
Core Address
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
210 Whitney Ave,
New Haven CT, 06511
For additional details please contact Specialist.
Electron Microscopy and Analyzes |
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Ultra-High-Resolution Schottky Scanning Electron Microscope SU7000 SEM (KGL 321) The center house a new Hitachi SU7000 SEM, recently purchase through Yale 2019 RFP funding. FE-SEM wide-area observation, variable pressure, high-resolution imaging at low accelerating voltages, and simultaneous multi-signal collection. The SEM is equipped with in-situ microanalysis capabilities such as EDS, and EBSD, essential for Material characterization. (See link for more details) Main Specialist: Zhenting Jiang |
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Electron Probe MicroAnalyzer EPMA (KGL 327) The center microprobe facility houses a JEOL JXA-8530F (FEG) “Hyperprobe” - electron probe microanalyzer. The computer control was recenlty upgraded trough Yale 2022 RFP funding (See link for more details) Main Specialist: Jim Eckert |
Optical Spectroscopy and X-ray |
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Raman Spectrometer (KGL 321) Horiba-Jobin Yvon HR-800 Raman Microscope equipped with a green laser tuned to 532 nm and three gratings: 1800, 1200 and 600. It is used for ruby fluorescence pressure measurement, and to measure the Raman spectra at both high pressure and at ambient pressure. It is equipped with confocal mapping abilities. Specialists: Zhenting Jiang |
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Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) - Bruker Vertex80 + Hyperion II (KGL 315) Purchased through Yale 2021 RFP funding, The Vertex 80 bench is under vaccuum to prevent air contamination. Dry air pump is used in the Hyperion II microscope compartment to reduce humidity from atmosphere. The microscope is equipped with 15x magnification, CMT detector as well as a FPA detector for spacial resolution of ~5-10microns. ATR plug in with Diamond tip is also availalbe to users. Specialists: Zhenting Jiang, Jennifer Girard |
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X-ray powder diffractometer Rigaku-Miniflex 600MiniFlex (KGL 215) Used to determine crystalline phase identification (phase ID) and quantification, percent (%) crystallinity, crystallite size and strain, lattice parameter refinement, Rietveld refinement, and molecular structure. Specialists: Zhenting Jiang, Jennifer Girard |
Sample Preparation |
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Polishing (KGL 312b) M-Prep 6™ grinding/polishing machine is designed for manual sample preparation. Powerful motors provide constant high torque output throughout the speed range, displayed from either 10-500 or 20-990 RPM. Specialists: Zhenting Jiang |
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Cressington High vacuum carbon coater and metal evaporator (KGL 321) 3 carbon coater and metal evaporator are available to prepare samples for SEM analyses. Specialists: Zhenting Jiang |
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Ion Milling System IM4000 (KGL 321) Ion Milling System utilizes a broad, low-energy Ar+ ion beam milling method to produce wider, undistorted cross-section milling or flat milling, without applying mechanical stress to the sample. Specialists: Zhenting Jiang |
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WELL diamond wire saws (KGL 312b) This wire cutting tool use a drum with precision threaded grooves machined into the surface to hold the diamond wire in place. The 10-metre-long diamond wire is attached and wound on the drum by a winding device. A loop in the wire is attached to a tensioner pulley to maintain the exact perpendicularity of the cut while moving over the sample. Using 100-120micron this cutting technique allow preparation of thin sample slab, with limited sample waste (~thickness of the wire). Specialists: Zhenting Jiang, Jennifer Girard |
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Laser cutter (KGL 215) Computer-controlled pulsed near-IR laser cutting tool used to cut small size pieces (cm to mm scale) of metal and ceramic. Specialists: Zhenting Jiang, Jennifer Girard |
High Temperature and/or High-pressure Sample synthesis and Rock Deformation |
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Vertical Tube Furnaces (KGL 317) 2 Deltech vertical tube furnaces are available to anneal samples at ambient pressure. Temperature can reach up to 1600C. One furnace is equipped with gas flow to control oxygen fugacity. Available gas (Ar, Ar+H2, CO2, Ar+CO2…). The tube can also be connected to a vacuum pump allowing vacuum down to 10^-3 mmTorr. Main specialist: Jennifer Girard |
High Pressure equipment (KGL 313) |
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Griggs-type Deformation Apparatus Our Griggs-type deformation apparatus is capable of deforming materials at ~2GPa and ~1600K to shear strains of up to gamma = 7 Main specialist: Jennifer Girard |
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1000 ton Kawai-type Multi-Anvil Apparatus This apparatus can produce pressures of ~25 GPa and temperatures up to 3000 K. This allows us to reproduce conditions in the uppermost lower mantle. Main specialist: Jennifer Girard |
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Rotational Drickeramer apparatus This apparatus is capable of deforming materials to large strains, at pressures of 25 GPa and temperatures up to 2300 K. Using this apparatus, we have begun deformation experiments to determine the rheology of wadsleyite, the olivine polymorph in the upper half of the transition zone. Main specialist: Jennifer Girard |
Below is a list of recent publication for which some of the key sample characterization works were performed in our center:
- Zhang, Z., Karato, S.-I., 2021. The Effect of Pressure on Grain-Growth Kinetics in Olivine Aggregates With Some Geophysical Applications. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 126, e2020JB020886
- Slagter, S., Tarhan, L.G., Hao, W., Planavsky, N.J. and Konhauser, K., 2021. Experimental evidence supports early silica cementation of the Ediacara Biota: Geology, v. 49, p. 51–55.
- Silber, R.E., Girard, J., Karato, S-I., 2022. Effects of pressure on diffusion creep in wet olivine aggregates, Physics of The Earth and Planetary interior, 324, 106840.
- Locatelli, E.R., Briggs, D.E.G., Leslie, A., Munzinger, J., Grandcolas, P., Lowry, P.P., II, Cantrill, D.J., Maurizot, P., Cluzel, D., Folcher, N., Garrouste, R., Nel, A., 2022. leaves in iron oxide: remarkable preservation of a neogene flora from new caledonia. Palaios 37, 622-632.
- Slagter, S., Hao, W., Planavsky, N.J. and Konhauser, K. and Tarhan, L.G., 2022. Biofilms as agents of Ediacara-style fossilization: Scientific Reports, v. 12, article 8631.
- Wiemann, J., Menéndez, I., Crawford, J.M., Fabbri, M., Gauthier, J.A., Hull, P.M., Norell, M.A. and Briggs, D.E.G. 2022 Fossil biomolecules reveal an avian metabolism in the ancestral dinosaur. Nature 606, 522-526.
- Pari, G., Briggs, D.E.G. and Gaines, R.R. 2022 The soft-bodied biota of the Cambrian Series 2 Parker Quarry Lagerstätte of northwestern Vermont. Journal of Paleontology 96, 770-790.
- Wiemann, J. and Briggs, D.E.G. 2022 Raman spectroscopy remains a powerful tool in a range of paleobiological applications: An analytical response to Alleon et al. (DOI 10.1002/bies.202000295). Bioessays 44, 2100070.
* We encourage our users to acknowledge the center in their publication and to let us know when they do so.
To help with acknowledgement below is a short sentence: ” The sample characterization work presented in this publication were performed in the Earth Materials Characterization Center (EMC2), in the department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Yale University.”