2016 — 2018 |
Majetich, Sara (co-PI) [⬀] Hunt, Benjamin Feenstra, Randall [⬀] Gellman, Andrew (co-PI) [⬀] Skowronski, Marek (co-PI) [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Mri: Acquisition of a Low-Temperature Scanning Tunneling Microscope For Advanced Surface Analysis @ Carnegie-Mellon University
Non-technical Abstract Five professors at Carnegie Mellon University will acquire a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (LT-STM), through the NSF MRI program. This instrument permits the mapping of atomic arrangements on surfaces, at low temperatures and under high magnetic fields. Studies will focus on "two-dimensional (2D) materials", that is, materials that are only one layer of atoms thick. In such materials, electrons are confined to move within the single atomic layer, and they thereby acquire certain novel properties that do not occur for regular, three-dimensional materials. Additionally, in the proposed work, different types of 2D layers will be stacked on top of another. Such combinations of 2D materials possess properties that, again, are unlike any found in regular, three-dimensional materials. For example, electrons are found to move much faster in 2D materials than in 3D materials, permitting the fabrication of novel types of electronic devices (useful for computers that are faster and require less power). Additionally, the magnetic properties of electrons in 2D are unlike anything that occurs in 3D, which also has potential for new types of computing devices. The LT-STM will have impact not only for the researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, but also more broadly for the "Pittsburgh Quantum Institute", which includes about 50 faculty from University of Pittsburgh, CMU, and Dusquesne University. The proposed LT-STM will serve as a powerful characterization tool for research projects undertaken by members of this Institute.
Technical Abstract Five investigators from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) propose to acquire a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (LT-STM), including magnetic field capability. Two-dimensional (2D) materials and heterostructures will be studied. The 2D materials, which are only one or a few atomic layers thick, are formed by "exfoliation" from bulk crystals, that is, peeling off one or a few atomic layers from a bulk crystal and depositing those layer(s) on a suitable inert substrate. Such 2D layers exhibit a host of exotic properties including massless fermions, topologically protected states, superconductivity, and ferromagnetic phases, all of which will be probed in the LT-STM. Additionally vertical heterostructures will be formed by transferring one atomic layer atop the other; a state-of-the-art facility for performing such fabrication exists at CMU. Properties of the materials can be controlled in such heterostructures, since the presence of one layer in proximity to another yields collective behavior that differs from that of the individual layers. All of the investigators are active in directing graduate and undergraduate research, and the proposed LT-STM instrument will significantly enhance those activities. Additionally, the facility will impact theoretical studies presently performed at CMU related to the experimental work of the investigators. The instrument is also expected to have significant impact on the "Center for 2D Materials and Devices for Energy-Efficient Computing" at CMU, which four of the PIs are members of. An operating plan for the LT-STM has been formulated that will permit external users to have access to it. Four of the investigators are members of the "Pittsburgh Quantum Institute", which includes about 50 faculty from University of Pittsburgh, CMU, and Dusquesne University. The proposed LT-STM will serve as a powerful characterization tool for research projects undertaken by members of this Institute.
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