Versatile optical bench for teaching, development, and testing of electron and ion optical systems

Abstract

A versatile apparatus for demonstrating the imaging properties of various types of electrostatic lenses, designed and constructed in this department, is described. The chief merits of the apparatus are the simplicity and the facilities provided for externally maneuvering the lens elements in several respects without disturbing the vacuum. The apparatus is used regularly by students in their laboratory experiments to study the focusing properties of different types of electrostatic electron or ion lenses or their combinations, as a part of the laboratory course on electron and ion optics.

Exploring focal and aberration properties of electrostatic lenses through computer simulation

“…We have indeed a number of teaching tools such as demonstration experiments, analytical solutions and computer simulation. Though experimental apparatuses can secure a place in any teaching laboratory for demonstration experiments [3], many of these experiments require intricate setup that can be costly, and some measurements on a system can even be inaccessible. Analytical models help tremendously in understanding, but few problems in charged particle optics admit analytical solutions, and this lack leads to the omission of interesting and important problems in the conventional physics curriculum.…”