The capability of modern instrumentation in materials science to provide large quantitative arrays of experimental data is outstripping the ability of many computer systems to analyze the data. The acquisition of this computer equipment will provide a computing environment which will allow the full exploitation of the capabilities of advanced instrumentation. It is designed, as well, to provide maximally effective access of the system users to the Cornell Production Supercomputer Facility. Anticipated use of the system includes work in ultra-high vacuum scanning transmission electron microscopy, conventional very high resolution transmission electron microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, near field scanning optical microscopy, optical sectioning and fluorescence microscopies, hyperthermal ion beam studies of surfaces, time resolved x-ray diffraction, and nanosecond resolved measurements of rapid melting and solidification. In some of the applications the advanced computing capability will be used to extend the capabilities of standard techniques (e.g. image enhancement in electron microscopies); in others, the computation is a critical aspect of the development of fundamentally new experimental techniques (e.g. near field and optical sectioning microscopies). Clearly, this capability will significantly enhance a number of research projects supported by the Division of Materials Research.
