Prof Adam Hitchcock: Adam Hitchcock, FRSC, was born and educated in Canada (B.Sc., Chemistry, McMaster, 1974; Ph.D., Chemical Physics, UBC, 1978). His research focus is inner shell excitation spectroscopy and spectromicroscopy. A professor at McMaster since 1979, his group has built and operates gas phase inner shell spectrometers and reflection electron energy loss (EELS) systems for surface studies. In 1980 he started synchrotron experiments, initially hard X-ray spectroscopy of materials at Cornell (USA), then soft X-ray spectroscopy of gases at LURE (France) and SRC (USA). In 1994 he began developing soft X-ray transmission microscopes (STXM) and photoemission microscopes (PEEM) at ALS (USA). He helped establish the Canadian Light Source (CLS, Saskatoon) and the CLS spectromicroscopy beamline, currently equipped with 2 STXMs and a PEEM. His current research is focused on technique development and applications of STXM and ptychography to automotive fuel cell materials, in situ electrochemistry, and magnetic bacteria.
Dr Ben Watts: Dr Watts is a beamline Scientist for the MicroSpectroscopy Group, Paul Scherrer Institute, Swiss Light Source. Dr Benjamin Watts received a PhD in Physics from the University of Newcastle, Australia, in 2006 and is now a beamline scientist at the PolLux STXM (scanning transmission X-ray microscope) at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland. Dr Watts' research is focused on the characterisation of organic electronic materials, especially the quantification of phase segregation and molecular orientation. Dr Watts has also made a number of technical contributions to the fields of STXM and NEXAFS involving sub-10 nm imaging resolution, controlling optics contamination, data file formats, analysis programs and an improved algorithm for calculating the Kramers-Kronig transform.
Dr Alexei Zakharov: Dr. Zakharov is a beamline scientist and beamline manager for the MAXPEEM beamline at the new synchrotron facility, MAXIV, Lund, Sweden. Dr.A.Zakharov received a PhD in Physics from Institute of Atomic Energy, Moscow, in 1987 and now is responsible for building and operation of the advanced X-ray photoelectron microscopy beamline at MAXIV. In general terms his field of science may be described as studying of surfaces with different microscopy techniques using a variety of advanced microscopes. He has taken the major part in construction and commissioning of word-class photoelectron spectromicroscopy station at one of the beamline (MAXPEEM) at the new synchrotron facility MAXIV. The station houses commercial Spectroscopic PhotoEmission and Low Energy Emission Microscope (SPELEEM). The microscope is a new, upgraded version (aberration correction SPELEEM) of the instrument with unprecedented high spatial resolution (down to 2nm in LEEM mode and below10nm in XPEEM). The microscope allows imaging surfaces and thin films with chemical and magnetic sensitivity but the applications of XPEEM are not limited to surface and material science, expending to novel fields like biophysics, medicine and geology
