Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory

Name: Group of Magnetic and Superconducting Materials at Leiden Institute of Physics, Leiden [ web ]

Contact: J. Aarts

Description: The Magnetic & Superconducting Materials (MSM) group investigates superconducting and magnetic properties of materials mainly in the form of thin films, with the aim of exploiting strain, artificial structuring, or the combination of different functionalities in order to study novel physical phenomena. The study involves conventional metals as well as oxide materials, and recently new projects on nanoscale electronic properties of graphene, beam-induced modification of nanotubes, nanodeposition of metals and nanoetching and modification of substrates started up. A wide range of techniques and facilities are used in the research activity. In the Leiden Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory tradition, most of the work in the samples characterization involves low temperatures.

In order to prepare very pure, high quality ultrathin films, and artificial heterostructures with high quality interfaces a deep expertise has been acquired in the fabrication processes, mainly dc -rf sputtering, and e-beam, carried out in high (UV) and ultra high vacuum (UHV) regimes. Both metallic and oxide films, are routinely investigated by means of X-Ray, transmission electron microscopy and high resolution and low energy scanning electron microscopy. Working with nanostructured and low dimensionality materials, requires reliable thin film processing, which in the MSM group can be carried out in a 1000 class clean room using optical and e-beam lithography, wet and dry etching (oxygen plasma and reactive ion etching).

Researchers involved in the mobility plan: J. Aarts, F. Galli, M. Hesselberth