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In the VORT-EX Group, the state-of-art multi-dimensional (time and space) electron microscopy techniques, including ultrafast transmission electron microscopy (UTEM), aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (AC-STEM), in-situ environmental TEM, and three-dimensional (3D) electron tomography are developed and applied to characterize materials with extreme spatial and temporal resolution. Unique capabilities in the VORTEX group opens many possibilities to understand physics behind advanced materials. The VORTEX Group is affiliated with the Materials Science and Engineering and Institute of Materials Science at the University of Connecticut.

We aim to push the limits of electron microscopy to the ultimate spatial and temporal resolution and apply these state-of-the-art techniques to solve key issues in materials, condensed matter, chemistry, nanoscience and biology. We also utilize first-principles density functional theory to complement the microscopic data and to bridge the atomic structure and dynamics to macroscopic properties. Some of the materials that we focus on are heteregeneous catalysts, energetic crystals and composites, metal alloys, polymers and low dimensional materials, such as graphene and nanowires.