Scanning tunneling microscopy in art

If you are interested in physics and art, come to see the exhibition Quantum Dialogues at the Byre Theatre – with exhibits on display 9th June until 31st July. Below ‘Superposition’ by Ru Christman with Siri Berge encapsulating the essence of real and momentum space, lattices, defects and the magic hiding behind atomic scale images obtained by quantum tunneling.

Ru (left) and Siri behind ‘Superposition’. If you are interested in this or other artworks by Ru Christman, see here.

Condensed Matter Retreat

It’s that time of year again – looking forward to our annual condensed matter retreat at the Burn in Glenesk and to an exciting programme and discussions. For more information see the dedicated webpage.

Meet us at the DPG spring meeting in Dresden

Meet members of the group at the DPG spring meeting in Dresden. Work of the group and its members features in the following contributions:

  • Siri A. Berge in TT5.10: “Atomic scale imaging of the effect of chemical pressure in Sr2−xBaxRuO4“, Mon 12pm, room CHE/0089.
  • Rebecca Bisset in TT29.2: “Determining the superconducting order parameter of UPt3 using scanning tunneling microscopy”, Tue 9.45am, room CHE/0091.
  • Carolina A. Marques in O80.3 (Gerhard Ertl Young Investigator Award Competition): “Exchange-driven magnetoelastic coupling in a correlated itinerant ferromagnet”, Thu 11:30am, room TRE/PHYS.
  • Uladzislau Mikhailau in O93.5: “Imaging stripe dynamics in superconducting nickelate “, Fri 10:30am, room HSZ/0201.
  • Peter Wahl in O93.7: “calcQPI – a tool to simulate quasiparticle interference”, Fri 11:00am, room HSZ/0201.

Currently recruiting

Look for a PhD position? Apply for a PhD project in the stimulating environment of the Centre for Designer Quantum Materials, working on experimental physics, instrument development or numerical modelling.

You can find example projects here, a few projects for which we specifically are looking for candidates this year are listed here:

Submit applications here.

Superconducting order parameter of UPt₃

Need some Christmas reading?🎄 How about our new preprint where we show how Andreev bound state spectroscopy can be used to determine the symmetry of the order parameter in the case of UPt3. Turns out, it’s important that there is spin-orbit coupling.

Spoiler alert: looks like singlet pairing with E1g symmetry is most consistent with our data.

 

Read the full preprint at:

  • Rebecca Bisset, Luke C. Rhodes, Hugo Decitre, Matthew J. Neat, Ana Maldonado, Andrew Huxley, Carolina A. Marques, and Peter Wahl, Determining the superconducting order parameter of UPt3 using scanning tunneling microscopy, arxiv/2512.15845.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Luke to an EPSRC Open Fellowship and starting his own group, the Rhodeslab, at the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of St Andrews, focussing on modelling of properties of and electronic states in quantum materials!

New preprint: Quasi-particle interference of monolayer CrTe₂

Read in our new preprint about how QPI, combined with photoemission and Density functional theory, can be used to determine the low energy electronic structure of a 2D magnetic materials. Nice QPI data from Olivia measured on our STM4 which she has built and films grown by Akhil. Great collaboration with the King group.

  • Olivia Armitage, Naina Kushwaha, Akhil Rajan, Luke C. Rhodes, Sebastian Buchberger, Bruno Kenichi Saika, Shu Mo, Matthew D. Watson, Phil D. C. King, and Peter Wahl, Electronic structure of monolayer-CrTe2: an antiferromagnetic 2D van der Waals material, arxiv/2505.07942, submitted.

Meet us at the APS March Meeting 2025

Meet members of the group and hear about our research at the following contributions at the APS March meeting in Anaheim:

  • Peter Wahl on Wd, March 19, 11:54am, Room 255C on Why the surface of Sr2RuO4 is not superconducting
  • Carolina de Almeida Marques on Fri, March 21, 12:06pm (invited), Room 159 on Exchange-driven Magnetoelastic Coupling in a Strongly Correlated Electron Material

join us for a PhD


Applications for the 2025 entry are open!

Interested in an exciting PhD project working with cutting-edge instrumentation in a stimulating environment and combining advanced experiments, development of bespoke instrumentation, complex data analysis and numerical modelling of quantum materials? We are currently searching for outstanding candidates who are seeking to pursue a PhD on a funded scholarship. You can find a list of example projects on the web page of the School of Physics and Astronomy.

Our group develops and operates cutting edge instrumentation for atomic scale studies of electronic structure, complex magnetic orders and unconventional superconductivity in quantum materials. The experiments are undertaken in dedicated ultra-low vibration labs. Projects are embedded in the Centre for Designer Quantum Materials, offering a vibrant and stimulating environment. Our work is highly collaborative, and usually we combine characterisation by multiple techniques with advanced numerical modelling using calcQPI.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to get in touch. Submit applications through the University portal.