This year’s Quantum Design Material Characterisation workshop was held at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. There had been lots of new product developments coming out of Quantum Design over the last few years such as the OptiCool optical cryostat and the FusionScope correlative AFM/SEM microscope.
Both of the two days had a specific focus:
- Day 1: Electrical/Magnetic/Thermal Properties
- Day 2: Spectroscopy and Microscopy
We had two representatives from Quantum Design USA come to join us, as well as Saptarsi Ghosh, lecturer at Swansea University. Scroll through for pictures, reviews and feedback about the workshop.
“There couldn’t have been a better backdrop than the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source at RAL to discuss our first results on the spin dynamics of 2D electron gas in Gallium Nitride. We hope to have conveyed that this ‘cool’ platform shares intriguing similarities—and dissimilarities—with more widely studied materials like III-arsenides, oxides, and topological insulators, and deserves more attention.
As this is a new field for us, we were particularly grateful for the audience’s suggestions for future experiments and collaborations. Not to mention the valuable insights from Randy Dumas and Darius Choksy’s enthusiastic talks.
A big thank you to Angela Carslake from Quantum Design UK and Ireland for hosting this workshop and inviting me and Sivaloganathan Kumaran, as well as to Royce Cambridge for their support in making this research possible!”
Saptarsi Ghosh
Lecturer in Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Swansea University
“I highly recommend Quantum Design for anyone engaged in advanced materials characterisation. Their approachable team coupled with informative, and interactive workshops, improve our ability as researchers to conduct more informed experiments. The recent materials characterisation workshop, hosted at Oxford’s ISIS facility, was a great chance to discuss my experiments with other equipment users and gain detailed insights from Quantum Design’s all-star application scientist team of Dr. Randy Dumas and Dr. Darius Choksy. The hands-on sessions and open discussions made it a particularly enriching experience for all attendees.”
Sivaloganathan Kumaran
PhD Candidate in Semiconductor Physics
Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge
ABOUT DARIUS CHOKSY, APPLICATIONS SCIENTIST, QUANTUM DESIGN USA
Darius received his Ph.D. in 2023 from the University of California, San Diego on the topic of quantum system of indirect excitons. These studies observed attractive and repulsive electric dipolar interactions between bosons and the formation of a Fermi edge singularity in a neutral electron-hole plasma. Darius joined Quantum Design in July 2023 and specialises in optical excitation experiments.
“It is always a fruitful experience to meet with different users of our systems, and this year I had the privilege to speak at our UK office’s annual user workshop. Not only does this provide me the opportunity to share more in-depth measurement techniques and give users a better idea of how our measurement option work, it lets me hear about the research that they are doing. The questions after a talk always give the best insight into both a researcher’s specific interests and their approach to measurements.
Having been to a few different national labs in the US, it was really enjoyable to see the facilities at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and learn more about the research being done there. I’m really grateful for the Quantum Design UK and Ireland for hosting us, and hope that the researchers who attended the user workshop look into our annual winter school as an opportunity to go even further in depth with our systems.”
Dr. Darius Choksy
Applications Scientist
Quantum Design USA
ABOUT DR. RANDY DUMAS, APPLICATIONS SCIENTIST, QUANTUM DESIGN USA
Randy received his PhD in 2009 from the University of California, Davis on the topic of reversal mechanisms in magnetic nanostructures. Randy joined Quantum Design in August 2016 and his specialty lies primarily in magnetic characterisation of both fundamentally interesting and technologically relevant materials.
“I always very much look forward to attending and presenting at these annual measurement workshops. They provide a unique opportunity to touch base in-person with our users in the UK and Ireland that other forms of communication simply cannot match. In addition to my role as an educator, each year I come away with having learned something new myself that I can then pass on to our worldwide customers“
Dr. Randy Dumas
Applications Scientist
Quantum Design