The LNL "Microbeam" has been installed at the AN 2000 Accelerator. It consists of a proton microscope, whose purpose is to collect detailed information for the determination of the spatial morphology and measure concentration values of single elements within samples.
This instrument is of particular interest for its applications in solid state physics, biophysics, biology, archaeology and geology.
Proton microscopes use a special proton beam that is collimated by means of a focalization assembly to a beam diameter of 1 micron. The set-up consists of a high precision target positioning system, a fine beam analysis instrument, a X-ray, secondary electron and recoiling proton detector to provide detailed information, and a system specifically designed for data acquisition.