• High Energy X-ray
  Diffraction Microscopy

My current research effort is focused on developing and applying High Energy X-ray Diffraction Microscopy (HEDM). HEDM is a synchrotron based x-ray scattering method for non-destructively measuring microstructural parameters of crystal-based materials such as polycrystalline metals and ceramics. This new set of measurement techniques offers the first opportunity to see internal meso-scale structure and to watch that structure evolve under thermal and/or mechanical treatments. Thus, entirely new types of studies of a broad class of technologically critical materials is becoming possible. Some details of the technique and examples of microscope output are available here.

Measurements are performed at the Department of Energy's Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory outside of Chicago. We collaborate with scientists at the APS to develop hardware and data collection software and to implement computationally demanding analysis software. Computational resources include parallel processing systems at the APS, at CMU, and at the National Science Foundation sponsored Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.

The research group currently includes four graduate students in Physics and four undergraduate students including Physics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Computer Science majors. Collaborations at CMU include faculty in Materials Science and Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering departments.

Work at CMU is sponsored by the National Science Foundation through both the Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (CMU MRSEC) and Metals programs as well as by the Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences program.