Field: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics

My research is concerned with the physical properties of various solid materials ranging from granular, two-dimensional thin films, multilayered films, superlattices to surfaces. I has fabricated, prepared, and performed several measurements on solid materials including magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity, optical spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, neutron reflectivity, scanning probe microscopy and spectroscopy over a wide temperature and magnetic field range. The bulk of my previous research was focused on the peculiar properties associated with materials with strongly correlated charge carriers (e.g. giant magneto-resistance, colossal magneto-resistance (CMR), high (transition) temperature superconductors (HTSC)s, CMR/HTSC). I have rebuilt a low-cost, versatile low temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM) used to probe surface phenomena via the manipulation of single atoms and small molecules as well as nano-structuring of surfaces by an atom by atom basis. Most recently, I have designed and constructed a novel scanning electron microscope, which is a cost-efficient, high-resolution instrument capable of imaging the top-most layers of “clean” surfaces. I am currently expanding the microscope’s capabilities by investigating other contrast mechanisms such as surface magnetization and chemical composition analysis.