Session A4 - Opportunities for Condensed Matter Research at National User Facilities.
INVITED session, Monday morning, March 22
517C, Palais des Congres
A major challenge in science and engineering research at the nano-scale, and particularly for condensed matter, is the availability of infrastructure that can allow easy and quick implementation of structures, devices, or more complex systems necessary for making rigorous measurements or for other exploratory directions of interest. The experiments connect across length scales – nanometer and up, employ a variety of materials and techniques of assembly and patterning, and require a complex knowledge-mix derived from other research areas and tools that require skill and are hard to access. The National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN; www.nnin.org) is an NSF-funded infrastructure of open shared facilities across the country that enables the national community to pursue research and technology development that can benefit from nanotechnology. The NNIN provides easy hands-on access to external users, remote usage, staff support, low cost usage, knowledge infrastructure, and brings together an extensive coordinated array of instruments for fabrication, synthesis, and characterization together with other infrastructure. Particularly relevant to condensed matter physics (e.g., in experiments involving single-electron transistor or its use in ultra-sensitive measurements, or measurements across a single nano-scale structure such as a molecule or a nanocrystal, development of new apparatus that allows X-ray measurements of soft materials, etc.) is the ability to integrate the small length scale through synthesis and electron-beam lithography, growth and deposition of a variety materials with controlled properties, patterning of complex shapes in the three-dimensions, connecting such structures, characterization, and the ability to achieve this quickly and at low cost. NNIN tool resources that span focused-ion beam, electron microscopy, spectroscopic techniques, etc. for characterization; synthesis, growth, deposition, etc. for assembling; lithography, etching, etc. for patterning – all enable the researcher to focus on their own research interest by leveraging the NNIN infrastructure. Access of NNIN is designed for ease of use – quick access (typically, 2 weeks), strong support (direct staff and web-based interactions), and remote execution for simple projects.