Access to NORTEM / Gemini Center facilities

TEM is a powerful and complex instrument that requires experienced operators with skills matching the challenges of the individual projects. In the TEM Gemini Centre, we have TEM instruments that cover a wide range of complexities and techniques ranging from standard routine TEM to highly advanced experiments on state-of-the-art instrumentation. We therefore have three access modes reflecting the complexity of the TEM analysis needed in the projects. Specimen preparation techniques and data analyses are crucial elements of a TEM study which also have to be considered. To find the access mode suited to your project, please see the tree specific access levels offered below. We encourage you in all cases to contact a staff member in the TEM Gemini Centre to discuss possibilities.

Service: The TEM Gemini Centre has highly skilled staff offering operator services on all functionalities of the facility equipment and high competence on a broad range of material systems. This ensures that also projects with no own trained users or projects where advanced techniques are demanded, can access the lab in an efficient manner. To request TEM service, please indicate this in our access form below. Operator charges apply.
User lab: There is a limited capacity to get hands-on access and operate the TEM instruments for PhD students, postdocs and researchers. Projects with a high demand for basic or repetitive TEM work are prioritized, and the project and user are expected to invest substantial resources (time and TEM rent) on training and performing experiments. Access is granted on a project basis. Instrument rent applies for training and experiments, and potential users must be aware that due to waiting list and extensive training it usually takes some months to get user status. Use our access form below to request user access to the lab.
Scientific collaboration: For projects with more complex TEM needs, we encourage scientific collaboration projects with researchers in the TEM Gemini Centre to maximize the potential outcome. This implies
- that the scientific staff at the TEM Gemini Centre normally will supervise or co-supervise at least one master/project student, PhD or postdoc candidate in the project, and / or
- that TEM Gemini Centre researchers have active roles in planning, performing and writing up part of the TEM study in the project.

We encourage any potential applicants and users to plan a TEM study and the resources it requires as early as possible in the project planning/application phase. The TEM Gemini Centre researchers will happily assist you in estimations of time, money and realistic outcome.

Access form

How to acknowledge use of NORTEM infrastructure

By using any data from the NORTEM infrastructure, you agree to the following guidelines:

NORTEM staff should be included as co-authors whenever they have made significant contributions to planning or realization of experiments, to specimen preparation or data interpretation and analysis. Please consult us if in doubt
All publications utilizing NORTEM infrastructure should be reported to the NORTEM management
Use of the NORTEM infrastructure should be acknowledged in publications for example as follows:
The authors would like to acknowledge support from the Research Council of Norway through the Norwegian Center for Transmission Electron Microscopy, NORTEM (197405/F50)