A physical properties measurement system

设备材料集团在英国材料科学部门中是独一无二的，它保持了材料和设备制造的能力，并结合详细的功能特征。在最基本的层面上，我们的目标是提高对物理性能如何取决于材料和界面的纳米级结构，以及如何通过加工控制这些结构的理解。除了保持世界领先的超导研究外，随着最近对具有相关组成和/或结构的材料的新功能的令人兴奋的发现，我们已经能够将我们的技能和设备转移到这些材料上，并取得了巨大的成功。一份长长的出版清单和最近获得的大量拨款清楚地表明了我们在新型功能材料的一般领域的研究的广度。我们的大部分工作依赖于从功能和结构表征到加工和制造的快速反馈能力。除少数例外，专家组的活动是在没有使用最先进的交钥匙计量设施的情况下开展的。取而代之的是，该组织支持开发各种自制和仪表化的电气传输测量。虽然这些测量系统运行良好，但它们需要一小部分充分了解结构和软件的有经验的工作人员提供相当大的支持。我们研究活动的迅速扩大意味着物理性能测量是研究新材料和器件的一个重大瓶颈。因此，我们的主要要求是一种能够自动对多种材料进行标准测量的系统。世界上大多数领先的实验室都可以使用模块化的交钥匙测量设施，如Quantum Design物理特性测量系统。这种系统的灵活体系结构使用户能够扩展系统的能力以满足他们的需要，并在可用时纳入仪器的改进。基本系统设计为专家和非专家都可以自动使用，以在广泛的温度和磁场范围内测量例如热容量、电阻率、磁化率、磁各向异性和霍尔效应。

The Device Materials Group is unique in a UK materials science department in maintaining a capability for materials and device fabrication in conjunction with detailed functional characterisation. At the most fundamental level, we aim to improve the understanding of how physical properties depend on the nanoscale structure of materials and interfaces, and how these may be controlled by processing. As well as maintaining world-leading research on superconductivity, with recent exciting discoveries of new functions in materials having related compositions and/or structures we have been able to transfer our skills and facilities to these with great success. A long publication list and a large number of recently awarded grants gives a clear picture of the great breadth of our research in the general area of novel functional materials. Much of our work is dependent on the ability to feedback rapidly from functional and structural characterisation to processing and fabrication. With a few exceptions, the Group has developed its activities without access to state of the art turn-key measurement facilities. Instead, the group has supported the development of a wide variety of home-built and instrumented electrical transport measurements. Although these measurement systems operate well, they require considerable support from a small number of experienced staff who fully understand the construction and software. The rapid expansion in our research activity has meant that physical property measurements represent a significant bottleneck in studying new materials and devices. Our principal requirement is thus for a system capable of automatically performing standard measurements on a wide range of materials. Most leading laboratories across the world have access to modular, turn-key measurement facilities such as the Quantum Design Physical Properties Measurements System. The flexible architecture of such systems allows users to expand the system's capabilities to suit their needs and to incorporate improvements in instrumentation as they become available. The basic system is designed to be used automatically by experts and non-experts alike to measure for example heat capacity, electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, magnetic anisotropy and Hall effect, over a wide range of temperature and magnetic field.