Nanophysics

News and Updates

With Some Bumps, NIST Scientists Devise a Novel Way to Extend the Wavelength Range of Microcombs

June 5, 2024

Microcombs – chip-scale devices that generate and measure frequencies of light with exquisite accuracy – have transformed timekeeping and boosted optical

NIST Researchers Help Design a Prototype Quantum Computer

December 20, 2023

Researchers have created a prototype quantum computer with a record number of qubits—the analog of bits in an ordinary computer—capable of performing logical

Do the Bump: NIST Scientists Perfect Miniaturized Technique to Generate Precise Wavelengths of Visible Laser Light

November 28, 2023

In research, sometimes the bumpy path proves to be the best one. By creating tiny, periodic bumps in a miniature racetrack for light, researchers at the

Projects and Programs

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

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

Measuring the Magneto-Electronic Properties of Graphene on the Nanometer Scale

Ongoing

The energy spectrum of graphene's charge carriers is very different from ordinary metals and semiconductors. The conduction and valance bands meet at conical points, where the carriers have an energy that is linear in momentum, giving rise to a zero effective mass [Fig.1(a)]. This dispersion is

Publications

Materials Discovery in Combinatorial and High-throughput Synthesis and Processing: A New Frontier for SPM

January 5, 2025

Author(s)

Boris Slautin, Yungtao Liu, Yu Liu, Reece Emery, Seungbum Hong, Astita Dubey, Vladimir Shvartsman, Doru Lupascu, Sheryl Sanchez, Mahshid Ahmadi, Yunseok Kim, Evgheni Strelcov, Keith Brown, Philip Rack, Sergei Kalinin

For over three decades, scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has been a key method for exploring material structures and functionalities at nanometer and often

Nagaoka ferromagnetism in 3 × 3 arrays and beyond

December 26, 2024

Author(s)

Yan Li, Keyi Liu, Garnett Bryant

Nagaoka ferromagnetism (NF) is a long-predicted example of itinerant ferromagnetism (IF) in the Hubbard model that has been studied theoretically for many years

Fermi-Level Pinning in ErAs Nanoparticles Embedded in III–V Semiconductors

April 9, 2024

Author(s)

Garnett W. Bryant, Ruiqi Hu, Dai Ho, Quang To, Anderson Janotti

Embedding rare-earth pnictide (RE-V) nanoparticles into III-V semiconductors enables unique optical, electrical, and thermal properties, with applications in

Metrology for 2D materials: a perspective review from the international roadmap for devices and systems

April 8, 2024

Author(s)

Albert Davydov, Yaw S. Obeng, Ndubuisi George Orji, Umberto Celano, Daniel Schmidt, Carlos Beitia

The international roadmap of devices and systems (IRDS) projects that 2D materials will be inserted into high-volume manufacturing as channel materials, mostly

Tools and Instruments

NIST PTIR Instrumentation and Capabilities

Photothermal induced resonance (PTIR) combines the spatial resolution of atomic force microscopy (AFM) with the specificity of absorption spectroscopy

Local Electrode Atom Probe Tomography (LEAP)

Field evaporates (with a voltage and laser pulse) a sharp tip-shaped specimen. Collects the ionization products in a position-sensitive, time-of-flight mass