Gisela Höflinger
= Gisela Höflinger
{c}
\b[Gisela Höflinger] is an author on <electron microscopy> specimen preparation. Her manufacturer-hosted profile identifies a background in industrial engineering and responsibility for a coating-instrument line at Leica Microsystems. Her 2014 tutorial <Brief Introduction to Freeze Fracture and Etching by Gisela Höflinger> explains the physical preparation steps behind images of frozen specimens.https://www.leica-microsystems.com/science-lab/authors/detail/gisela-hoeflinger/[Originating author profile: identity, industrial-engineering background and EM-sample-preparation role]{ref}
The tutorial distinguishes <freeze-fracture microscopy>, which exposes an internal face by breaking a frozen specimen, from <freeze-etching>, which removes surface ice by <sublimation>. It describes angled heavy-metal deposition for topographic contrast, followed by a supporting carbon layer, and distinguishes viewing a block face by <scanning electron microscopy> from viewing a replica by <transmission electron microscopy>.<Brief Introduction to Freeze Fracture and Etching by Gisela Höflinger>[Definition; Sublimation and condensation of water; Freeze fracture to generate images.]{ref}
A geometrical example explains why coating angle matters. For a narrow deposition beam at angle $\alpha$ above a flat surface, an ideal step of height $h$ casts a shadow of length $h/\tan\alpha$. With $h=2\,\mathrm{nm}$ and $\alpha=5^\circ$, that length is about 23 nm. This is a simplified shadow construction, not a reconstruction of data from the tutorial. It connects Höflinger's preparation topic to a practical problem: the recorded contrast depends on both specimen structure and the way its surface was coated.
\Image[https://www.leica-microsystems.com/fileadmin/_processed_/f/7/csm_gisela_hoeflinger_04_ad6124182c.jpg]
{title=Gisela Höflinger, portrait labeled on her Leica Microsystems author profile}
{source=https://www.leica-microsystems.com/science-lab/authors/detail/gisela-hoeflinger/}