The MAGTOOLS proof-of-concept project has developed a software tool to be integrated in commercial electron microscope control platforms dedicated to the development of novel magnetic materials. Being able to obtain information related to magnetic quantities on a local scale will resolve many of the mysteries of magnetic nanostructures, since the magnetic properties of materials are not solely determined by the local ordering of magnetic moments, but also their actual values. The final product consists in a software application (plug-in) to be integrated within commercial electron microscopes control software. It is capable of:
a) Fast optimization and acquisition, including control of the excitations of magnetic lenses in the microscope in order to produce the correct optical conditions for the electron magnetic circular dichroism measurements with high spatial resolution.
b) Controlling the spectrometers and detectors in charge of data acquisition.
c) Analyzing datasets and calculate parameters relevant to the magnetic behavior of samples of interest.
The MAGTOOLS plug-in can be integrated into the Digital Micrograph (DM) platform, sold by Gatan Inc. to control hardware and also acquire data in the electron microscope. It can also run as a stand-alone application preserving most of its functionality. Since DM is the most widely used software for control of spectrometers and detectors in electron microscopes, MAGTOOLS has been programmed using Gatan’s proprietary scripting language in order to fully integrate it without suffering compatibility problems. MAGTOOLS will be integrated in the Menu bar of DM as a plug-in in an encrypted package with several sub-menu tabs related to different functionalities.
The window of opportunity is based on the current degree of development and understanding of the improved optics of the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), which enables optimal tuning of beam convergence and spatial resolution so magnetic materials can be explored in real space with high spatial resolution. A successful transfer of such improved tools into a wider technology development context needs of user-friendly interfaces that can help non-specialist researchers and engineers fully exploit these techniques, and this is the niche we aimed to fill.
