MMR Facilities
The PMNS Lab (Physics Materials and Nanoscience Lab), SDSU (CEH 350) houses both materials preparation and characterization facilities.
Materials Preparation: (i) Arc-melter for bulk materials preparation, (ii) Sputtering Deposition Systems for thin film preparation, (iii) High-vacuum Furnace for heat treatment, and (iv) Ball miller for nanostructured material synthesis.
Materials Characterization: (i) X-ray Diffractometer for structural characterization, (ii) VersaLab Magnetometer for magnetic properties studies, and (iii) UV/VIS Spectrometer for optical property characterization.
Quantum Design VersaLab magnetometer with temperature range from 50 K to 1000 K and magnetic field up to 30 kOe. Sensitivity: 10-6 emu.
Useful for structural analysis of materials including phase identification, phase quantification, percent (%) crystallinity, crystallite size and strain, lattice parameter refinement, Rietveld refinement and molecular structure.
Equipped with both deuterium and tungsten lamps with wavelength range of 175 nm to 900 nm. It can be used to measure optical properties of both solid and liquid samples.
Very useful to prepare a range of metallic alloys under the flow of inert gas.
The planetary mill PULVERISETTE 7 premium line has 2 grinding stations, which is designed for broad range of micro/nanostructured material synthesis using top-down approach. Particles of sizes up to 100 nm can be prepared using suitable still balls. Depending on the desired final particle size, the grinding can be performed dry, in suspension or in inert gas environment. This machine can reach an unprecedented rotational grinding speed of up to 2,200 rpm and centrifugal acceleration of 95 times the acceleration due to gravity.
This system can be pumped to 10-8 torr with a maximum annealing temperature of 1200 oC.
