To celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday 6th May, a collaboration between the Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre (nmRC) and the Precision Manufacturing Centre (PMC) has produced a unique gift.
The names and coronation dates of all the Windsor monarchs (dating back to George V in 1911) have been etched onto an uncirculated 50p coin. This was acheived using a technique called Focussed Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM) and was conducted by Dr Nigel Neate on the FEI Quanta3D FIB-SEM. The width of the inscription is approximately 30 microns which is about the same size as a white blood cell.
A floating coin holder was then manufactured by Mark Strickland and the team at the PMC to display the coin with the University logo engraved on the front.
One copy of the coin and holder has been sent to Buckingham Palace and the other will be displayed in the nmRC, along with a booklet detailing how it was made.
Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre
Cripps South buildingUniversity of NottinghamUniversity Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD
telephone: +44 (0) 115 95 15046 email: nmcs@nottingham.ac.uk