MRI: Acquisition of an Ultra-High Vacuum Cryogen-Free Magnet Cryostat to Enhance Multi-Disciplinary Research and STEM Education at San Francisco State University

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This award, funded by the Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI), will bring new research and teaching capabilities to three Departments and Schools at the College of Science & Engineering at San Francisco State University and six collaborating undergraduate and Ph.D. granting institutions through the acquisition of an Ultra-High Vacuum Cryogen-Free Magnet Cryostat. This magnet cryostat is a fundamental, non-invasive, complex physical property measurement system and will enable student researchers, and faculty and staff members to measure properties of nanoscale materials and devices ranging from electrical transport and thermal conductivity properties to optical, and magneto-optical properties. The acquisition of the cryostat will lead to the development of a new comprehensive nanoscale shared research facility with broadly disseminated scholarly outcomes. These include elucidating the physical properties of nanoscale materials and devices, developing new course modules, and publishing student authored/co-authored peer-reviewed articles and conference papers. The cryostat system will support the integration of research and teaching and will catalyze a new era of collaborations among seven Bay Area undergraduate and graduate institutions thereby creating new research opportunities. It will allow faculty, staff, and students to break new ground in their scientific inquiries and will have profound benefits for both the investigators and their student researchers. The training on the cryostat platform will prepare a large and diverse student body for the challenges of graduate programs and professional careers and will provide a large number of researchers from underrepresented groups the skills to become the next generation of competent scientists and engineers. Importantly, it will enable students to develop the core practical skills and technical competencies that lay the foundation for the U.S. to build talent to remain at the cutting edge of STEM fields.A low-temperature physical properties measurement system equipped with a magnet is a powerful non-invasive tool to characterize nanoscale materials and devices that are currently at the forefront of interest in materials science and condensed matter physics. This cryogen-free system is equipped with four major components: (i) a variable 12 T superconducting magnet; (ii) a variable temperature unit for measurements ranging from 1.65 K to 300 K; (iii) an electrical transport probe with a three-dimensional sample rotator; and (iv) a confocal microscope operating at cryogen temperature. The measurement capabilities include electrical transport, magnetoresistance, Hall & Quantum Hall Effect, thermal conductivity to optical, optoelectrical, magneto-optical and magneto-optoelectrical properties. The cryo-free system will allow all users to advance the frontiers of research in the following areas of materials science: (i) electronic and photonic materials (2D van der Waals crystals, van der Waals heterostructures, and memristors); (ii) metals (plasmonic nanoparticles, graphene, and ferromagnetics); (iii) semiconductors (metal oxides, wide bandgap materials; (iv) strongly correlated materials (vanadium dioxides, Weyl and Dirac semimetals) and (v) polymers with an emphasis on conductive polymers. The combination of magnetic field, electrical contacts, and optical excitation of materials at low temperatures will enable the measurement of transport properties, optical properties and optoelectrical properties of a wide range of nanoscale materials, which is of key importance for developing future nanoscale electronics and photonics devices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.