Research in the Surface Science Laboratory centers on investigating a
variety of properties of solid surfaces, the interaction of surfaces with
absorbed atoms and molecules, interfaces between solids, and the
properties of complex oxides.

The Laboratory is equipped with a multiple-chamber oxide MBE growth
and analysis facility consisting of three UHV chambers connected
together by a sample transfer system that permits samples to be moved
between the three chambers under UHV.

One of the chambers is equipped for MBE growth of oxide layers. It
contains six metal evaporation sources (high-temperature effusion cells
and electron-beam evaporators); quartz crystal monitor control of the
deposition rate for each source; molecular O₂  (or NO₂) and excited-
state and atomic oxygen sources; a differentially pumped RHEED gun
that can be operated at relatively high ambient pressure; substrate
preparation capabilities, including ion bombardment and annealing; and
control of the sample temperature between 100 and 1470 K.

The second chamber is a multiple technique surface analysis system
that is equipped for UPS, XPS, EELS, LEED, Auger, work function
measurements, and inverse photoelectron spectroscopy (IPS).

The third chamber contains an atomic resolution SPM that can operate
in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), atomic force microscopy (AFM)
and atom tracking modes at temperatures between 100 and 1000 K and
at pressures below 10-10 Torr.

The Surface Science Laboratory is part of the Center for Research on
Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP), an NSF Materials
Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) based at Yale, in
collaboration with Southern Connecticut State University and
Brookhaven National Laboratory. CRISP conducts collaborative,
multifaceted research on the composition, structure, properties and
potential applications of solid–solid and solid–gas interfaces. The primary
focus is on complex oxide interfaces because of the wealth of new
science and new applications they offer in areas such as magnetic
storage, "spintronics", chemical sensing and electronic devices.

Interface between ferrimagnetic Fe₃O₄ (100) and antiferromagnetic NiO (100)

Selected Publications:

“Experimental Study of the Interfacial Cobalt Oxide in Co3O4/a-Al2O3(0001)
Epitaxial Films,” C.A.F. Vaz, D. Prabhakaran, E.I. Altman and V.E. Henrich,
Phys. Rev. B 80, 155457 (2009).

"Interface and Electronic Characterization of Thin Epitaxial Co3O4 Films,"
C.A.F. Vaz, H.-Q. Wang, C.H. Ahn, V.E. Henrich, M.Z. Baykara, T.C.
Schwendemann, N. Pilet, B.J. Albers, U.D. Schwarz, L.H. Zhang, Y. Zhu,
J. Wang and E.I. Altman, Surf. Sci. 603, 291 (2009).

"Interfacial Properties between CoO (100) and Fe3O4 (100)," H.-Q. Wang,
E.I. Altman and V.E. Henrich, Phys. Rev. B 77, 085313 (2008).

“Measurement of Electronic Structure at Nanoscale Solid–solid Interfaces by
Surface-sensitive Electron Spectroscopy," H.-Q. Wang, E.I. Altman and
V.E. Henrich, Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 012118 (2008). [Also: Virtual Journal
of Nanoscience & Technology 17 (3) (2008).]

Book:

The Surface Science of Metal Oxides, V.E. Henrich and P.A. Cox
(Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994).