Covenant College's Thin Film Growth and Characterization Lab for Undergraduates

On this page you can keep up with the progress for the Physics Department's newest feature, a lab for undergraduate research. This facility was made possible by a grant from the Division of Materials Research at the National Science Foundation, under the Major Research Instrumentation program. In addition, the Sanderson Fund from Covenant College helped with the purchase of several components of the lab. The Principal Investigator is Prof. Phillip Broussard.

Date	Status
4/2/12	Above we show the new configuration of the low temperature system with the Varian Magnet. System has been tested out to low temperature and high field. We can reach 5.7 K and 0.43 T. Next we have to get the new thermometer working to measure at low temperature. We are also having to deal with a cooling issue as the Janis puts a lot of heat into the room when it is running.
2/21/12	The low temperature system is now being moved to integrate with the 4" electromagnet. It will likely be down for a couple of months, but should be working fine for summer research! Photos to come.
2/2/12	The college has bought a used magnet for the program. We will now have the capability to measure the samples up to 3 kG. Dr. Broussard is working this semester to integrate the magnet into the Janis system. There is an open spot for doing research in summer 2012!
12/9/11	Teddy Huizinga and Rosemary Shelden have finished their project on the properties of thin Nb films. Now they have to write it up!.
10/24/11	James Veldhorst and Dr. Broussard both presented at the SESAPS conference in Roanoke, VA, October 2011. James is now at Ga Tech in engineering school, and Dr. Broussard is hoping to do another summer research effort with a student in 2012. Right now he is working with a Fall Research course with Teddy Huizinga and Rosemary Shelden.
7/25/11	James Veldhorst has finished his summer research at Covenant. We are now doing analysis and getting ready for the Fall SESAPS conference.
6/27/11	James Veldhorst has grown over 30 samples and made an incredible amount of measurements! Sequences with varying Mo thickness and Nb thickness have both been done, and we are seeing how they compare to predictions. In addition, we have been blessed with Steve Lewin, a former engineering student, who has been making new coils for our inductive measurements. Above we show the inductive critical current for a Mo/Nb bilayer as a function of temperature. We have to calibrate the coil against transport measurements next.