Facilities
Location
Our lab is located at the beautiful river bank of the Tennessee river inside the Research Park of the University of Tennessee at Cherokee Farm. We are a part of the Institute for Advanced Materials & Manufacturing (IAMM), which is formerly known as the Joint Institute for Advanced Materials.
Quantum "Kitchen"
The lab of laser molecular beam epitaxy is the place where we "cook" artificial quantum crystals and quantum interfaces. There are two deposition chambers equipped with a 248nm excimer laser, laser/resistive heating, loadlock, scanning and rotating target carousels, and in situ high-pressure reflection high energy electron diffraction.
There are a number of high-temperature box furnaces and tube furnaces for sample preparation/treatment and target sintering under a variety of background gas or vacuum. A gold sputtering coater is also available for contacts preparation.
Electromagnetic Properties Lab
We operate a 9T physical properties measurement system (PPMS) and a 7T magnetic properties measurement system (MPMS), both of which are close-cycle systems and made by Quantum Design. There is also a Westbond wire bonder for making electrical contacts. An Olympus BX53 optical microscope is available for examining sample quality. A new 14T PPMS DynaCool system is coming soon with options of dilution refrigerator, thermal transport, torque magnetometry, etc. This facility is open to internal and external users with very reasonable user fees. Interested users can contact us.
MPMS - VSM
PPMS
Wire Bonder
Nomarski Microscope
Multi-Modal Measurement Platform
We have set up a measurement platform that can measure a number of electrical properties statically and dynamically with temperature-control under simultaneously applied magnetic and strain fields. The available electronics includes electrometer, nanovoltmeter, DC/AC current source, sourcemeter, LCR meter, ferroelectic tester, lock-in amplifier, voltage-controlled current source, and preamplifier. The strain field can be delivered by a number in situ strain cells. In collaboration with the Advanced Photon Source, we have established an offline 6-circle x-ray diffractometer that can adapt to this measurement platform for measuring x-ray scattering concurrently with the magneto-, elasto-, and thermo-electrical properties of quantum materials.
Electronics
Electromagnet
Strain Cell
6-Circle X-ray Diffractometer
Core facilities
A number of user facilities are available on campus, including various x-ray diffractometers, scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope, transmission electron microscope, micro-processing facilities, photoelectron spectrometer, supercomputing cluster, etc. We also have access to floating zone furnaces, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, and scanning tunneling microscopy through local collaborations.
National Facilities
We visit large national facilities routinely to perform experiments with advanced measurement techniques, such as resonant x-ray scattering/spectroscopy/imaging, neutron scattering, and milli-Kelvin high-magnetic-field measurements. Such analytical characterizations are crucial in resolving the underlying physics of quantum materials, especially when the collective quantum phenomena occurs under extreme conditions and/or at nanometric scale.
Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Lab
Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley Lab
Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Lab
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory