Hemispherical electron energy analyzer

An electron energy analyzer is a tool that helps scientists study how electrons move and interact with other particles. Imagine if you were trying to understand how a ball bounces. You would watch how it moves and how it interacts with the ground. Scientists use electron energy analyzers to do something similar with electrons.

A hemispherical electron energy analyzer is a specific type of electron energy analyzer that looks like a big bowl. Scientists put samples they want to study inside the bowl and shoot electrons at them. The electrons bounce off the sample and into the bowl. The bowl is divided into different parts, like slices of a pizza. Each slice is filled with a magnetic field that can sort the electrons according to their energy levels.

Imagine if you had different types of balls and you wanted to sort them by size. You could use different buckets or baskets to collect balls of similar sizes. The hemispherical electron energy analyzer does something similar with electrons. It divides them into different energy ranges, like sorting balls by size.

Scientists can then measure the electrons in each energy range to learn more about the sample. For example, they might look for electrons with specific energy levels to learn about the sample's chemical composition or the interactions between different particles. By using a hemispherical electron energy analyzer, scientists can study the behavior of electrons in a variety of materials, from metals to plastics to biological samples.