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Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication Laboratory (CHANL) houses facilities for materials characterization and a versatile suite of instrumentation for micro and nanofabrication.

The lab provides professional consultation on problems regarding electronics design and operation. It also provides fee-based repair and equipment construction services to MRSEC members. In the recent past, it has designed and constructed specialized circuitry for laser power and timing stabilization, computer interfaces for electron energy spectrometers, and high-frequency quadrature signal demodulators. In addition, the lab maintains a pool of electronic measurement and test equipment that can be signed out by MRSEC members.

Freeze-fracture transmission electron microscopy (FFTEM) is a powerful technique for imaging the nanometer-scale structure of soft condensed matter, revealing features as small as a single smectic liquid crystal layer (~ 3 nm). We use FFTEM to study the bulk and interfacial structure of equilibrium and non-equilibrium states of liquid crystals and nanocolloids.

Analytical techniques available include Auger spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and several kinds of thermal analysis. A wide array of spectrophotometric techniques, including UV-visible-near IR spectrophotometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and fluorimetry are also available.

The Mechanical Testing Facility enables investigators to create novel materials and structures through crystal growth, hot pressing, vacuum casting, diffusion bonding, and cold iso-static pressing. Once created, materials may be shaped by conventional machining, wire EDM, and specialty surfacing equipment. The mechanical properties of the material may be characterized over a wide range of temperatures, atmospheres, loading rates, and testing regimes. The facility is staffed by a senior research engineer and two senior technical assistants.

This facility is maintained in Prof. Ozdoganlar's laboratory and used for a variety of MRSEC experiments, including the preparation of specimens for FIB studies. The main equipment in this laboratory is 1) A three-axis miniature machine tool for micromilling, microdrilling, and microgrinding applications, 2) A micro-capable laser Doppler vibrometer system for experimentation on dynamics of micro- and nano-scale structures, 3) Planing equipment for micro-scale material removal (in development), and 4) Bridgman furnace for fabricating single-crystal workpieces (in development).

Formerly called the Chemistry Facility

Facility Director

seshadri [at] mrl [dot] ucsb [dot] edu (Professor Ram Seshadri)

Facility Manager

amanda [at] mrl [dot] ucsb [dot] edu (Amanda Strom)

The MRL TEMPO Laboratory has advanced instrumentation for the characterization of materials and chemical samples. We offer an extremely wide range of instrumentation for Thermal, Electronic/Elemental, Magnetic, Porosity, and Optical measurements.

This instrumentation is available to users from UCSB, other Universities, and Industry.

Training is available. We are now offering a testing service.

We have instrumentation for measuring the:

Thermal Properties of Samples

• TGA/TGA-MS
• DSC
• High Temp XRD
• PPMS

Electronic & Magnetic Properties of Samples

• PPMS
• DynaCool PPMS
• SQUID
• TGA

Elemental, Phase, & Evolved Gas Composition of Samples

• ICP
• XRD
• MS Accessory for TGA

Optical Properties of Samples

• UV-Vis-NIR Spectrometer
• Fluorimeter
• Olympus BX41 Fluorescence Microscope

Porosity, Surface Area, & Density of Samples

• TriStar BET Porosimeter
• Pycnometer

All instruments are available for responsible users to test their own samples. Training is offered quarterly for the more complex instruments and users may self train on the other instruments any time. There are specific insurance and liability requirements for off-campus facility users. They are described at this link: Non-UCSB Use of MRL Facilities

All people working in the TEMPO lab are required to follow good practice and to have already attended the UCSB EH&S Laboratory Safety Training.

Contact amanda [at] mrl [dot] ucsb [dot] edu (Amanda Strom) or 805-893-7925 for more information.

The High-Field NMR Facility at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is an interdepartmental facility, open to researchers of the Five Colleges Consortium (UMass Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Amherst and Hampshire Colleges) and surrounding industries. It supports research programs of twenty groups in the areas of chemical synthesis, polymer chemistry, materials science, and natural products. The facility oversees five NMR spectrometers. Two of them (DPX300 and Avance400) are public-access spectrometers for the research needs of 200 users and the teaching needs of graduate and undergraduate students from all science and engineering majors. Three additional spectrometers are available for advanced applications. The Avance600 spectrometer is equipped with a cryoprobe and capable of triple resonance and gradient experiments, while the DSX300 and Infinity300 are wide bore solid-state spectrometers which are equipped for triple resonance, high-speed magic angle spinning, and wideline experiments. The spectrometers are Ethernet-linked to a number of Silicon Graphics and Windows computers for data analysis, computation, and manipulation of three-dimensional structures.

The IBD Nanobiology Facility is a joint venture between the Biological and Physical Sciences Divisions. This facility was created in the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics (IBD) to establish a wide range of core capabilities in advanced microscopy, time-resolved fluorescence, AFM imaging, and single molecule mechanics. It is directed by Prof. Norbert Scherer (Chemistry) with Justin Jureller, Ph.D. as Technical Director. It has two parallel missions: to develop new instrumentation and methods building on emerging nanoscale biological techniques; and to provide general user access, training, and support for commercial instrumentation in the aforementioned areas. Often times this will result in the construction of custom optomechanical instruments for specialized user projects. Current instrumentation includes two biological atomic force microscopes (Aslyum MFP-3D and Bruker Multimode), time-resolved and steady-state fluorimeters (ISS ChronosBH and HJY Fluorolog-3), ultrafast laser sources, custom TCSPC (Becker-Hickl) microscopes, and a variety of optics and optomechanical resources. Currently in development are a new Simultaneous Multiplane 3D Imaging Microscope based on a programmable spatial light modulator, a novel ultrafast amplified laser source intended for nonlinear imaging of nanoparticles, colloids, intracellular granule transport, and a DMD programmable mirror based LED system for optogenetics experiments. The facility has a teaching/training component that is being utilized in lab courses for the Graduate Program in Biophysics. The NanoBiology Facility maintains strong educational and industrial outreach programs as well as consulting services for projects, grant writing, and publications.