In April a team from the group including Curran, Aysha, Maria and Anna spent several days at beamline I09 at the Diamond Light Source for a combined SXPS/HAXPES experiment on a number of oxide materials, all relevant for electronic device applications.

We were hunting for both chemical state information and final state effects from core level spectra as well as for signatures of the electronic structure of the materials, including some 2D electron gases at buried interfaces. In order to avoid beam induced changes to the samples we used the defocussed setup at I09 and were rewarded with some intensely bright and large beam illumination on the samples (see image below). The electronic structure experiments needed extended acquisition times to obtain the needed signal quality, so we even had time to catch some fresh air and walk to the top of ISIS hill providing a great view of Harwell campus and the surrounding greenery.

This was also Maria’s first synchrotron experience. She is spending six months in the group as a visiting PhD student as part of her PhD, which she is undertaking at the University of Padua, Italy, under the supervision of Prof Alessandro Martucci. She works on crystallisation of solution-based metal oxides on temperature-sensitive substrates.