High Resolution 3D X-ray Microscope (XRM)

• Subject Area: Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 555934667

Geomaterials and biomaterials such as rocks, minerals, soils, animals, plants and human tissue have complex internal microstructures that are of great importance for the properties and processes in these materials. With 2D microscopic analysis methods, sample preparation (sections) is unavoidable, which has the disadvantage that on the one hand the microstructures are disturbed by the preparation and on the other hand a spatial (3D) arrangement of structures cannot be measured. The device applied for is a high-resolution 3D X-ray microscope (XRM), which is used to non-invasively capture microstructures of various materials in situ and reconstruct and analyse them as a 3D model. In addition to spatial characterisation, this non-invasive method has the advantage that changes over time in properties and processes (e.g. weathering, translocation of materials, exposure to pressure or changes in thermal conditions, degradation of tissue, etc.) can be measured and quantified. We want to set up the requested equipment as a new "core facility" in the newly founded Institute of Earth System Sciences. Various geological and soil science departments (including geology, sedimentology, mineralogy, geochemistry, soil mineralogy, soil chemistry and soil biophysics) have joined forces in this institute. The device applied for can be used for a very wide range of scientific questions. These include the analysis of pore architectures and transport, mineralisation and redox processes in porous media (soils, sediments), root-soil interactions, freezing and thawing processes in permafrost soils, magmatic processes in high-pressure experiments and their significance for gas bubble formation, mineral orientations and interfaces through to the structural analysis of reservoirs and sedimentary rocks and their deformation through neotectonic processes. The core user group is complemented by the working groups Ecological Microbiology and Environmental Microbiology (Institute of Microbiology) and Cell Biology (Institute of Cell Biology and Biophysics), which deal with the interaction of microorganisms with the abiotic environment (e.g. soils as habitats) or the investigation of 3D in vitro models of biomaterials such as bone marrow and synthetic cell structures. The device applied for provides detailed information on microstructures in almost synchrotron quality, which means significant added value for basic research on bio- and geomaterials at Leibniz Universität Hannover and opens up new research directions for the 3D analysis of structures and their functions. The aim is to combine the existing imaging methods (XPS, CLSM, ESEM, AFM, etc.) with the 3D-XRM to develop correlative image analysis approaches.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Hochauflösendes 3D Röntgenmikroskop (XRM)
• Instrumentation Group: 4070 Spezielle Röntgengeräte für Materialanalyse, Strukturforschung und Werkstoff-Bestrahlung
• Applicant Institution: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover
• Leader: Professor Dr. Stephan Peth