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Projects/Programs

Displaying 1 - 25 of 31

Applied Single-Electron Metrology

Ongoing
Atoms are natural high-fidelity standards. They are used as the basis for time and frequency standards as well as qubits in nascent quantum computer architectures. Electrostatically defined, single-electron devices behave as tunable artificial atoms which can trap, manipulate, and shuttle electrons

Atom-scale Devices: Engineering, Metrology and Manufacturability

Ongoing
For these atomically defined devices, the exact position, type, number of atoms, and their arrangement, dramatically influence device behavior. By controlling the precise atomic makeup and geometry of a device it is possible to engineer a device’s electronic, quantum and mechanical structure to a

Connecting Quantum Electronics and Photonics using Silicon Color Centers

Ongoing
Overview: In the first decades of the semiconductor electronics industry, color centers were ubiquitous in silicon. However, through iterative refinement of materials’ processing and spectroscopy methods, color centers are virtually non-existent in commercial silicon today, and leveraging their

Designing Advanced Scanning Probe Microscopy Instruments

Ongoing
SPM is a general acronym for various probe instruments. The "P" in SPM stands for various types of probe measurements, such as capacitance (C), force (F), tunneling (T), etc. The scanning tunneling microscope (STM), including custom designs at the CNST, uses the quantum mechanical principle of

Designing the Nanoworld: Nanostructure, Nanodevices, and Nano-optics

Ongoing
Developing and exploiting nanodevices for quantum and nanotechnologies requires nanoscale and atomic scale modeling of ultrasmall structures, devices, their operation, and their response to probes. Key challenges of understanding physics at the quantum/classical interface and measurement at the

Electron Spin Resonance at the Single Atom Level

Ongoing
To study electron spin resonance (ESR) on single atoms requires a tool that can probe at atomic length scales. The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is ideally suited for this, using a tunneling current to probe surfaces. To implement this ESR-STM combination, we send a radio frequency (RF

Engineered Designer Lattices for Quantum Systems

Ongoing
Exposing the low-dimensional materials to a superlattice periodic potential is an effective way to engineer their electronic and other solid-state properties. One example is the moiré superlattice, created by stacking two-dimensional layers at a twist angle, which leads to novel band structures and

Extreme ultraviolet optical constants

Ongoing
Measurements of EUV optical constants are often made by measuring the absorption or near-normal-incidence reflectivity, then performing transforms to obtain both the real and imaginary parts of the index. These sorts of measurements have considerable uncertainty because they require knowledge of

Graphene

Ongoing
Two remarkable features of graphene that are opening avenues to multiple applications are its high transport carrier mobility and the broad tunability of its electronic properties. Graphene charge carriers can be tuned continuously from negative carriers (i.e., electrons) to positive carriers (holes

Integer and Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

Ongoing
Integer Quantum Hall Effect Graphene is a unique 2DEG system that is exposed at the surface and can be probed with scanning tunneling measurements.  A hallmark of graphene that results from the unique linear dispersion is that the energy spacing between the Landau levels is not constant but varies

Light-matter interactions in Semiconductor Nanostructures

Ongoing
We investigate the interaction of light with semiconductor-based nanostructures. We extend concepts of entanglement and coherence in atomic physics to our solid-state systems. Our devices are based on semiconductors, like GaAs. We use InAs quantum dots (QDs) in GaAs as artificial atoms; they have

Machine Learning to Predict Multicomponent Colloidal Crystals

Ongoing
There is a direct link between a material’s macroscopic properties and its microscopic structure, which makes rational bottom-up self-assembly a powerful tool for engineering properties of materials. In general, colloids are facile material building blocks whose shape, charge, and surface

Micro- and nano-optomechanical systems

Ongoing
Our primary current research direction involves the use of fabricated devices with sub-wavelength periodicity (photonic crystals) as optomechanical elements. Such structures enable a rich variety of devices, including mirrors, polarizers, and filters, in a configuration that couples naturally to

Moiré Systems

Ongoing
Twisted double bilayer graphene The moiré systems of magic angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG) and related heterostructures support topological bands with nonzero Chern number, which is derived from the Berry curvature of the Bloch wave functions. Berry curvature is intimately related to orbital

Multiscale structure and dynamics in advanced technological materials

Ongoing
New technologies increasingly harness materials phenomena that operate across many length-scales: e.g., in selective gas adsorption, additive manufacturing, new alloy designs, or advanced concretes. To overcome technology barriers, it is no longer sufficient just to characterize the materials

Nanotribology for Nanomanufacturing (Archived)

Completed
Friction and wear are major causes of mechanical failures and dissipative energy losses. These shortfalls account for a significant portion of the annual gross domestic product in the United States, amounting to approximately $800 billion in 2010. It is estimated that tens of billions of U.S

Precision Materials for Quantum Devices

Ongoing
MBE System Our fabrication system is composed of ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chambers that support the in-vacuum exchange of 75 mm wafers without exposure to air as seen in Figure 1. These chambers are: (1) a deposition chamber with electron gun deposition, UHV compatible sputter guns, in situ shadow

Silicon-based Solid-State Analog Quantum Simulators

Ongoing
Why Atom-based Si AQS Analog quantum simulators are designed quantum systems with a tunable Hamiltonian to emulate complex quantum systems intractable using classical computers due to the exponential growth of the calculations with system size. Simulating strongly interacting fermions (electrons) on

Structural Metrology of Advanced Manufacturing Processes

Ongoing
Understanding material structures in advanced manufacturing is crucial because it enables precise control over material properties, leading to improved performance, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness in production processes. However, this understanding poses many challenges, such as the

Theory: Designing the Nanoworld

Ongoing
Developing and exploiting nanodevices for quantum and nanotechnologies requires nanoscale and atomic scale modeling of ultrasmall structures, devices, their operation, and their response to probes. Key challenges of understanding physics at the quantum/classical interface and measurement at the
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