David C. Bell
Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics, Professor of the Practice of Electron Microscopy
Associate Director of the Center for Nanoscale Systems
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Manager Imaging and Analysis, Center for Nanoscale Systems
Professor at the Harvard Extension School
David C. Bell is a Professor of Applied Physics in the Practice of Electron Microscopy at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. He is the lead for the Imaging and Analysis facility at Harvard University's Center for Nanoscale Systems. This facility houses the highest resolution aberration corrected TEM and STEM in the new England area; the only atom probe in the Northeast; additional electron microscopes; and operates with 10 full time staff scientists. Professor Bell received his doctorate in physics from the University of Melbourne and did his postdoctoral study at MIT. His research focuses on theory and application of aberration-corrected and analytical electron microscopy, with particular emphasis on the application of aberration corrected low voltage electron microscopy.
Prof. Bell studies the structure and properties of quantum materials, nanowires and materials for catalysis’s. The main thrust of his research on quantum materials facilitates the characterization of newly developed quantum materials, such as graphene, topological insulators, and nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond with aberration corrected imaging and analytical tools, including atom probe tomography. He is also developing techniques to sequence DNA using aberration corrected electron microscopy.
Prof. Bell has also harnessed charged particle beam lithography using both high-energy electrons and ions for the fabrication and modification of nanoscale devices and teaches classes on electron microscopy, nanotechnology and microfluidics. He has authored numerous publications and books (most recently the RMS Wiley volume on Low Voltage Microscopy) and serves on editorial boards of several materials and microscopy journals.
Professor Bell was named fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society, UK in 2005.
