MRI: Development of a Versatile, Ultra-Low Temperature, High Magnetic Field Scanning Probe Microscope for Investigations of Nanostructured Materials and Devices

这个奖项给宾夕法尼亚州立大学是一种新型的扫描探针显微镜系统的发展，专门设计的灵活性和能力，以回答广泛的开放性问题，新的纳米结构材料和设备。 它将具有独特的特性组合，包括可互换的传感器，使当地的电子和磁性的互补调查，和多个样品接触，允许同时批量运输测量。 一系列表面制备和表征工具将扩大可研究的材料和设备的范围，同时光学访问将确保研究人员能够快速定位并移动到重要的样品特征。 宽温度（50 mK到室温，使用无制冷剂技术）和磁场（高达10 T）范围将使研究人员能够探测各种相变和现象，包括超导性，拓扑，量子和多铁性行为。拟议仪器的开发还将激发教育，培训和推广的更广泛影响。 在开发过程中，仪器设计和数据的近实时共享，在材料研究界是独一无二的，应该会刺激其他新仪器的急需开发，并鼓励人们思考数据共享的好处。 调查人员将把他们的开发和研究经验，其中统一了一套广泛的尖端工具，到一个教程的开发解释这些工具的使用和需要的相互关联的信息，他们提供了解复杂的系统。 与宾夕法尼亚州立大学材料研究科学与工程中心（MRSEC）和费城富兰克林研究所一起，研究人员将开发一个关于可视化纳米结构的交互式博物馆套件，旨在激发新一代科学和工程学生的兴趣和想象力。

This award to Penn State University is for the development of a novel scanning probe microscope system, specifically designed with the flexibility and capacity to answer a wide range of open questions on new nanostructured materials and devices. It will have a unique combination of characteristics including interchangeable sensors enabling complementary investigations of local electronic and magnetic properties, and multiple sample contacts allowing simultaneous bulk transport measurements. An array of surface preparation and characterization tools will expand the set of materials and devices that can be studied, and simultaneous optical access will ensure that researchers can quickly locate and move to important sample features. Broad temperature (50 mK to room temperature using cryogen free technology) and magnetic field (up to 10 T) ranges will enable researchers to probe a variety of phase transitions and phenomena including superconductivity, topological, quantum, and multiferroic behavior.Development of the proposed instrument will also inspire broader impacts in education, training, and outreach. During development, near real-time sharing of instrument designs and data, unique in the materials research community, should spur the much needed development of other new instruments and encourage thinking about the benefits of data sharing. The investigators will translate their development and research experiences, which unify a broad set of cutting-edge tools, into the development of a tutorial explaining the use of these tools and the need for the interrelated information they provide to understand complex systems. Together with the Penn State Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) and the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, the researchers will develop an interactive museum kit on visualizing nanostructures, designed to spark the interests and imaginations of a new generation of science and engineering students.