Facilities
CreaTec LT-STM/AFM System
Our first ultra-high-vacuum system for state-of-the-art atomic imaging, spectroscopy, and atomic manipulation. Located in the basement of Stirling Hall to minimize perturbative building vibrations, this system is capable of both scanning tunneling microscopy and qPlus atomic force microscopy at temperatures down to 4 K.
The preparation chamber is equipped with sublimation cells for molecular deposition, a variable temperature cold transfer arm for variable temperature deposition experiments, and equipment to prepare ordered metal and semiconductor samples in vacuum.
A Nanonis Specs control stack is used to interface with the system.
The instrument is connected to our Helium recollection facilities.
Omicron LT-STM/AFM System with Optical Access
Our newest ultra-high vacuum system also housed in Stirling Hall and part of Queen’s Nanophotonics centre. It similarly offers scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic-force microscopy surface characterization down to 4 K. However, this system additionally has in-system moveable lenses to allow coupling of light into the tip-sample junction. This enables photonics characterizations like tip enhanced Raman spectroscopy and optical florescence.
The prep chamber allows for in-situ prep of metallic and semiconducting substrates, molecular deposition, and also sports a cold transfer arm that can keep samples < 50 K in vacuum.
The system is interfaced with by a Nanonis SPECS control stack.
The Omicron system is also tied into our Helium recollection systems.