Scientific Infrastructure

The scientific work undertaken in the Peter Grünberg Institute makes full use of an extensive research infrastructure within Forschungszentrum Jülich and beyond.

The major infrastructure units closely connected to the PGI are:

  • Ernst Ruska-Centre, ER-C: The centre houses some of the world's most advanced transmission electron microscopes and tools for nanocharacterization used in materials and life science research.
  • Helmholtz Nano Facility, HNF: Unique cleanroom facility for the fabrication of new artificial information systems
  • Jülich Centre for Neutron Science, JCNS: state-of-the-art neutron sources and instruments
  • Jülich Synchrotron Radiation Lab, JSRL: beam line facilities in Berlin (BESSY II), Hamburg (PETRA-III), Karlsruhe (KARA), Didcot, UK (DIAMOND), and Trieste (Elettra) for the investigation of electronic properties, structure and dynamics of materials are relevant for quantum and neuromorphic computing.
  • Jülich Supercomputing Center, JSC: supercomputers for multi-scale modelling and simulation of materials and devices
  • Jülich Short-Pulsed Particle and Radiation Centre, JuSPARC: a new interdisciplinary experiment facility built around ultra-short pulsed table-top lasers for time-resolved studies of processes down to the femtosecond regime using a suite of state-of-the-art pump-probe experiments.

Within the various divisions in PGI, we operate individual research infrastructures adapted to specific research topics. These may be divided into sample preparation and characterization approaches.

Sample preparation is performed by a full range of physical and chemical deposition techniques, which are used to grow thin film systems, nanowires, and nanodots. A special facility for the preparation of hybrid systems is the NanoCluster, located in the HNF building, where most of the nanostructuring activities (electron beam lithography) also take place. For the synthesis of molecules and molecular structures, we operate a number of specialized chemistry laboratories in PGI.

With respect to sample characterization, PGI operates a wide variety of spectroscopy, microscopy and scattering approaches, some of which are specifically developed in-house. A suite of low-temperature scanning-tunnelling microscopes, both spin-integrated and spin-resolved, is employed for atomic resolution studies of electronic and spin configurations at surfaces and molecular structures.

Various kinds of scanning and full-field electron microscopes address phenomena on mesoscopic length scales. Dedicated x-ray scattering instruments are employed for structural analyses. A wide variety of photon and electron spectroscopies is used to address electron states in condensed matter systems in great detail, down to the level of the electron spin. Electrical characteristics can be measured in transport down to very low temperatures and in high magnetic fields. An electronic oxide UHV cluster-tool (EOC) is in operation, which enables the in situ characterization and nanoscale electrical manipulation of oxide thin films and devices by using scanning probe techniques and photoelectron spectroscopy and -spectromicroscopy.

The Nanocluster in the HNF:

Last Modified: 06.10.2023