A physicist from the University of Houston has received a five year, $620,000 CAREER award from the National Science Foundation to develop and test methods for fast, low-radiation, high-resolution X-ray microscopy.
Mini Das, assistant professor of physics at UH, said the work aims to close the gap between conventional microscopy and a next-generation version. Microscopy now requires lengthy exposure to yield its secrets. She has proposed collecting fewer X-ray photons - the elementary particles of light - but finding ways to increase the amount of information that can be collected from those particles.