DCU Student in Running for Earnshaw Medal

School of Physical Sciences student Adam Dempsey has been shortlisted for the IOP Earnshaw Medal for 2016 for his projected entitled 'Tip-surface interactions in atomic-force microscopy' .

Each year the Institute of Physics in Ireland awards the Earnshaw Medal to the undergraduate student who presents the best final year project. Last year, DCU student Cleo Harvey won the award. This year's winner will be announced in December. Best of luck Adam!

His project abstract is below.

The drive for increasingly miniaturised technology has lead to a need for nano-scale imaging techniques. One such technique is atomic force microscopy (AFM). This project describes a simulation (written in C++) for tip-surface interac- tions in atomic force microscopy. The relevant interatomic forces are reviewed and the operation of the simulation is described. Common image artifacts and their causes are identied. Platinum, diamond and carbon nanotube AFM tips are evaluated and their strengths and weaknesses are described. Tip function- alisation is also simulated and evaluated. Finally an image analysis technique is described for identifying the chirality of carbon nanotubes from their topology.