This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
The purpose of this award is to upgrade and repair basic experimental infrastructure within the University of California Berkeley Atomic, Nanoscale, and Quantum Characterization Facility (ANQCF) housed in the two basement levels of Birge Hall, on the U.C. Berkeley campus. This space is devoted entirely to research and has been the primary laboratory facility for the U.C. Berkeley Physics Department for the last 45 years. The infrastructure in this facility is no longer adequate, as it is plagued by a noisy electromagnetic environment, acoustically and structurally propagated vibrations, poor temperature control, particulate contamination, a failing cooling water system, and lack of proper inter-laboratory connectivity. These experimental limitations will be rectified through a major upgrade of ANQCF infrastructure systems.
The renovations will enable a new generation of experimental activities within the ANQCF that will probe the ultimate limits of spatial resolution, electromagnetic sensitivity, as well as time, frequency, and energy resolution. The improved experimental environment created by the proposed renovations will allow carbon nanostructures to be investigated at the single-atom level and in new physical regimes. New phenomena will be explored in quantum fluids composed of superfluid helium as well as degenerate atomic gases. The dynamics of individual spins will be explored using new local probe and magnetometry techniques, and the limits of quantum information manipulation will be tested in both atomic and solid state qubit systems. The intricate mechanical systems of biology will be explored and manipulated at the single molecule level. The proposed improvements in ANQCF infrastructure will also allow broader participation in science and engineering through a number of programs aimed at under-represented minorities, students at all levels, and community college instructors. The Nation's science and engineering enterprise will be impacted through enhanced training of scientific personnel, new science and technological breakthroughs, strategic partnerships in distributed energy research networks, and technology transfer to dynamic Silicon Valley / Bay Area industries. Critical technologies that involve new materials, electronic devices,and nanostructure applications in the areas of computation, communications, chemical and photosensing, medicine, and energy will be impacted.
ARRA Award 0962799 provided funding for a construction project to upgrade basic experimental infrastructure in research laboratories in the Physics Department at the University of California. The Atomic, Nanoscale, and Quantum Characterization Facility (ANQCF) is housed in two basement levels of Birge Hall, space devoted exclusively to research and the department’s primary laboratory facility for the last 45 years. The infrastructure was no longer adequate for the demands of modern research, as it had been plagued by (i)electromagnetic environment contaminated by noise sources distributed throughout the building; (ii)acoustically and structurally propagated vibrations caused by turbulent flow through inadequate cooling water pipes and acoustical noise from loud air conditioning units; (iii)poor temperature control due to unreliable and failing water cooling systems, inadequate air handling control, and poorly regulated air temperature; (iv)significant particulate contamination from inadequately filtered air, affected by sediment build-up in aged ducts and particulate shedding from aged mechanical systems; (v)lack of inter-laboratory connectivity and network capacity, significantly constraining collaboration, sharing of experimental resources, and capacity for experiments that require more than one laboratory room. The environment severely limited the quality of modern experimental work that could be pursued in the ANQCF. This project was accomplished over 3 years and rectified these experimental limitations through extensive upgrade of four infrastructure systems. Each of the 25 ANQCF laboratories were electrically isolated, shielded and filtered from different noise sources through the combined use of improved grounding network, isolation transformers, and physical EMI shielding. Faulty cooling water plumbing was repaired via chilled water horizontal piping, and noisy air-handling units were acoustically shielded. Air handling systems were upgraded with HEPA air filtration units and improved temperature sensing and control equipment. The interconnectivity/network pathway was completed with improved cabling and conduits placed between ANQCF laboratories. All systems are functional and completed. Intellectual Merit: The project has had significant intellectual merit in that it has facilitated a number of successful research projects that otherwise could not have been performed. These include the following examples: (a) The upgrade of clean power and HEPA filter enabled higher performance of ultrafast and nanostructure spectroscopy with more stable laser intensity and much better sensitivity. It has helped mitigate the chronic problem of dust in our laser labs. The new HEPA filters have enabled new optical exploration of ultrafast electron dynamics in graphene as well as optical spectroscopy of individual carbon nanotubes. (b) The new fiber network has allowed us to send laser signals from one laboratory to another, allowing calibration through the use of a frequency comb. Electronic feedback was used to stabilize the laser frequency to the Cs recoil frequency. This has allowed new time measurements using the mass of Cs atoms as a reference, in order to provide a direct link of the atom's mass and the proposed redefinition of the kilogram in SI units. (c) Work on cavity optomechanics with cold atoms in high finesse optical resonators has benefitted significantly from the new infrastructure improvements. The fiber network system has allowed access to a common wavelength meter so as to stabilize the wavelengths of lasers that are locked to short-term-stable optical cavities, simplifying our experimental setup and allowing us to run with higher duty cycle and more flexible experimental settings. The new improved instrument grounds have enabled new low-noise optical detection circuitry, with which we are currently measuring forces at the quantum limits for force detection. The improved equipment cooling system has reduced the heat load in our laboratories, stabilizing the air temperature and improving the reliability of our laser systems. This has allowed us to measure the properties of magnons in ferromagnetic superfluids through coherent atom optics. These magnons are created optically using laser light tuned to particular wavelengths that are rather far from convenient atomic transitions. (d) The reduced vibration from cooling water improvements and improved electrical noise upgrade have allowed us to perform new atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements that previously were not possible. We are now able to obtain single-chemical-bond-resolved images of individual molecules on surfaces using new non-contact atomic force microscopy techniques. These extremely sensitive measurements have allowed us to distinguish the bond order of individual chemical bonds within one. This has allowed us to gain new insight into Bergman cyclization processes on surfaces, and to understand the mechanism of surface polymer formation involving new classes of molecular precursors. Broader Impacts: This project has had broader impact via the training of graduate students in identifying environmental factors that affect research and it has provided many opportunities for collaboration between research groups. Other broader impacts are that it has been highly effective for graduate student and faculty recruitment. It has additionally provided employment within the N. California Bay Area via a number of design and construction jobs.
