Facilities

Low Temperature, High Field Scanning Probe Microscope (CreaTec)

This state-of-the-art scanning tunneling microscope (STM) can operate at 1.3 K, and it is equipped with a 9 T magnetic coil. It has 6 electrical contacts, which allows in-operando studies of functional devices with STM. The STM tip socket also has 7 electrical contacts, which allows one to change to different scanning probes, such as non-contact AFM and 4-pin electrical probes, without ever breaking the vacuum. The STM also allows RF excitation of up to 40 GHz to be directly delivered to the tip-sample junction, which will allow us to study the coherent spin states in atomic defects.

Octoplus-350 MBE System (MBE Komponenten)

This system is equipped with 12 elemental sources, including 5 thermal evaporators, 1 Te cracker, and 1 multi-pocket ebeam evaporator with (x6) 15 cc crucibles. It is equiped with a liquid nitrogen-cooled heater allowing a wide range of growth temperature from -150 C to 1400 C. This powerful machine will allow us to develop the growth of various high quality thin films, including topological materials, vdW magnets, superconductors, magnetic heterostructures, and many other quantum materials in the lab.

Customized Mini-MBE System (VolkVac)

This custom-designed MBE system is equipped with 9 elemental sources, including 1 Se cracker, 1 multi-rod ebeam evaporator, several thermal evaporators. It has a water-cooled substrate heater that can go up to 1400 C. Owing to its compact design, maintenance of this MBE system is extremely easy, and we plan to use the system to explore the growth of various novel quantum materials with tailored properties in the lab.

Ultra-High Vacuum Suitcase (VolkVac)

This equipment has a base pressure of <1 E-10 torr and can handle up to 10 samples at the same time. It allows air-sensitive samples to be moved between the two MBE systems and the STM systems in the lab while remains under UHV condition. It can also be directly connected to other systems both on campus and off campus, such as inert gloveboxes, XPS, ARPES beamlines. It will allow a full range of characterization techniques to be performed on our samples.

Customized Helium Reliquefier (Cryomech)

This home-built helium reliquefier allows us to collect the boil-off of helium gas from our STM system and storage Dewars and recondense it into liquid form. 

Van der Waals Stacking Lab

This Lab consists of a fumehood and a laminar flow bench, a optical microscope for identifying isolated 2D materials, a fully automated stacking tool for vdW stacking, a customized stencil mask aligner for contact evaporation, and a ambient/ UHV annealing system for sample preparation. The lab also has a designated area for discussion to promote communication and collaboration between different groups, as well as to create an inclusive working environment for postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers.

Birck Nanotechnology Center

Our research lab is located in the Birck Nanotechnology Center, which has one of the largest research cleanrooms (25,000 sqft) run by universities in the United States. It provides us with access to state-of-the-art research facility including structural characterization, electrical and magnetic measurement, and nano fabrication.