Versatile Variable Temperature and Magnetic Field Scanning Probe Microscope for Advanced Material Research

Abstract

We have built a variable temperature scanning probe microscope (SPM) that covers 4.6 K - 180 K and up to 7 Tesla whose SPM head fits in a 52 mm bore magnet. It features a temperature-controlled sample stage thermally well isolated from the SPM body in good thermal contact with the liquid helium bath. It has a 7 sample holder storage carousel at liquid helium temperature for systematic studies using multiple samples and field emission targets intended for spin-polarized spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) study on samples with various compositions and doping conditions. The system is equipped with a UHV sample preparation chamber and mounted on a two-stage vibration isolation system made of a heavy concrete block and a granite table on pneumatic vibration isolators. A quartz resonator (qPlus) based non-contact atomic force microscope (AFM) sensor is used for simultaneous STM/AFM operation for research on samples with highly insulating properties such as strongly underdoped cuprates and strongly correlated electron systems.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure