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

该奖项授予宾夕法尼亚州立大学，以表彰其开发了一种新型扫描探针显微镜系统，该系统特别设计具有灵活性和能力，可以回答有关新型纳米结构材料和器件的广泛开放性问题。它将具有独特的特性组合，包括可互换的传感器，可以对局部电子和磁性进行互补调查，以及多个样品触点，可以同时进行批量运输测量。一系列表面制备和表征工具将扩展可研究的材料和设备集，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至室温，使用无冷技术）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，拓扑，量子和多铁性行为。拟定的文书还将在教育、培训和外联方面产生更广泛的影响。在开发过程中，近乎实时的仪器设计和数据共享，在材料研究界是独一无二的，应该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。研究人员将把他们的开发和研究经验转化为教程的开发，这些经验统一了一系列广泛的前沿工具，解释了这些工具的使用以及它们为理解复杂系统提供的相关信息的必要性。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可视化纳米结构的交互式博物馆套件，旨在激发新一代理工科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.