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 Supercomputing Center, JSC: supercomputers for multi-scale modelling and simulation of materials and device
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 planned new Helmholtz Quantum Center is being financed by the Helmholtz Association to the amount of around 50 million euros. It includes the construction of a new building with state-of-the-art experimental equipment for the development of quantum technologies on the Jülich campus. The new building will bring together many of the existing activities in the field of quantum computing at the Peter Grünberg Institute. The aim is to strengthen cooperation across working groups and institutes and to offer attractive conditions for leading scientists. By bringing together basic and material-oriented working groups with strongly application-focused research groups in a joint building, the exchange of ideas will be promoted in order to facilitate the faster implementation of new findings in technology. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2025, with commissioning planned for 2028.