Cool Tool: Binghamton University to Get 3rd X-Ray of its Kind in the World

Binghamton University is about to become the owner of a rare piece of research equipment.

The Vestal campus is to get a $1.75 million X-ray system that will be used to look deep into materials like lithium batteries or even archaeological treasures without causing damage or even taking an item apart.

The Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy system (HAXPES) will be the first of its kind in the U.S. and third in the world when it is built and sent to B.U.'s Smart Energy Building in the Innovative Technologies Complex in the next year or two.

The system is being funded by $1.23 million from the National Science Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation program.  B.U. will pick up the rest.

The instrument, which is about the size of a pickup truck, will mainly be focused on batteries, next-generation electronics, neuromorphic computing and solar energy harvesting but can also be used in other applications like studying pigments and clays.