In March we had the pleasure to travel to the University Amsterdam to deliver and set up a STOE STADI MP to the group of Prof. Anna Isaeva at the Institute of Physics. Prof. Isaeva and the groups associated with the Quantum Materials cluster at the Institute of Physics are working on the development of novel materials like topological insulators, high-temperature superconductors, van der Waals magnets and excitonic materials, high-entropy alloys, semiconductor nanocrystals and thin films. These materials can show layered structures, multiple phases in one sample, preferred orientation and other crystallographically challenging and intriguing effects.
When Prof. Isaeva moved to the University of Amsterdam, her plan was to establish an X-ray facility which her and other groups could use, to understand the structural in addition to the physical properties of their materials. Correct experimental evaluation of the lattice symmetries, stacking order, point defects and twining are paramount for the understanding of materials physics. Thus, the group required a high-resolution, precise, fast and versatile diffractometer which they found in the STOE STADI MP equipped with a Ge(111) monochromator, MoKa1 radiation and a Mythen 1K detector.
The STADI MP offers:
- True monochromatic radiation
- High resolution diffractometry with a FWHM down to 0.03° 2Theta
- Fast measurements
- Transmission, Debye-Scherrer and Bragg-Brentano geometries
- Easy switching between the geometries without the need for realignment
- High versatility with the possibility of adding accessories
In addition, they are eager to test the structural evolution of their samples at high temperatures and obtained an HT2 in-situ reaction chamber which allows them to measure at temperatures up to 1550 °C! To also allow maximal efficiency when working with a large number of samples they obtained a reflection and a transmission sample changer.
Now their crystallography platform starts out with a highly precise and efficient state-of-the-art instrument.
Prof. Isaeva and her group, Dr. Falk Pabst, Grigory Shipunov, Ekaterina Kochetkova and Marie Tardieux, welcomed their new instrument with great excitement and open arms and immediately gave it a name: Mw. Bes T. Raling, where Mw. (mevrouw) is Dutch for Miss, Mrs. and “bestraling” means irradiation.
We wish them many exciting measurement results with their new instrument!