[2024/08] Myeesha, Laxmi, Chris, and Connor presented posters at 2024 CNMS User Meeting, and Connor received a “Best Student Presentation Award”. Congratulations!

[2024/07] Courtnei and Andy presented the poster “Data Processing of dI/dV Map for Single Layer FeSe Superconductor” at Summer Research Scholars Poster Symposium.

[2024/07] A new paper published in ACS Nano: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.4c02926

In this paper, we observed the interaction between topological surface states and Rashba edge states as manifested on step edges of Bi2Se3 thin films. The Rashba edge states appear/disappear depending on the thickness of the film due to their interaction with the bottom topological surface states.

[2024/06] We welcome summer undergraduate students, Courtnei Powell and Andrew Lee.

Courtnei and Andrew, mentored by Chris, will work on the UT-ORII SMaRT project that focuses on quasiparticle interference analysis with machine learning.

[2024/05] New Unisoku USM-1300 STM has been successfully installed and running.

We appreciate everyone’s effort, including Unisoku and SPECS people!

[2024/01] We welcome a new postdoc, Dongwon Shin. He will work on NSF-MRSEC projects jointly among Dr. Hanno Weitering, Dr. Norman Mannella, and our group.

[2024/01] Wooin, Chris, and Connor successfully made UT sign and artificial graphene by moving carbon monoxide molecules one by one:

[2023/10] Myeesha and Chris presented the poster “Testing and Benchmarking of Silver Nanowire Tip as Scanning Tunneling Microscope Probe” at AReMS 2023, and Myeesha received “The First 15 Student Poster Award“. Congratulations!

[2023/10] A new paper published in Communications Materials: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43246-023-00408-w

In this paper, we observed intrinsic magnetic topological insulators MnBi2-xSbxTe4 (MBST) with STM/STS and quasiparticle interference. We presented a statistical analysis of the nanoscale effect of defects to identify (Bi,Sb)Mn anti-site defects to be the main source of the observed doping fluctuations, leading towards the formation of nanoscale charge puddles and effectively closing the transport gap.

[2023/9] Chris Howard won the 3rd place prize for the “Q3 Lab Safety Culture Awards“. Congratulations!

[2023/9] A new paper published in Nano Letters: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c02658

In this paper, we probed unconventional superconductivity of FeSe using Andreev reflection between STM tip and superconductor sample. The decay constant spectroscopy reveals that Andreev reflection inside the superconducting gap of FeSe fits best to the d-wave pairing symmetry.

[2023/8] We welcome a new undergraduate student, Conner Vernachio.

[2023/7] We welcome a new postdoc, Wooin Yang. He will jointly work at both UTK and ORNL.

[2023/6] We welcome a new PhD student, Chris Howard.

[2023/6] We welcome new PhD students, Myeesha Mostafa and Laxmi Bhurtel.

[2022/8] We are starting a new lab in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville!

Our new lab will be located in the Institute of Advanced Materials and Manufacturing (IAMM) building. The new ultra-low-temperature STM is coming soon!