Daniel Brodsky

For the last two years of my PhD, I moved to the MPI in Dresden. Here I helped set up a new low temperature laboratory and sample preparation room. I am currently running a project in an Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator, which can reach temperatures below 100 mK, where I am measuring the properties of a quantum critical material under uni-axial pressure.

I took 160 credits of graduate level courses my first two years. These included Quantum Field Theory, Strongly Correlated Electron Systems and Experimental Nanophysics. I also undertook several research projects. The first was a cleanroom project which involved fabricating chips for measuring mesoscopic samples, using various patterning techniques. The second project involved the study of an unconventional superconductor using a novel uni-axial strain probe at cryogenic temperatures.

My work involved trying to increase the efficiency of the University of St Andrews' helium recovery system, by locating any potential leaks, and ensuring that all procedures were being carried out correctly in the laboratories. I ordered and set up an electronic mass flow meter which was connected to the recovery system, which enables the real-time monitoring of helium flow. In this way a leak can be detected more easily, and action taken swiftly.

During this two month internship I worked in the University of St Andrews' clean room, and learned various chip patterning techniques. These included the use of photo-lithography and electron-beam lithography, and the use of thermal and electron-beam evaporators to deposit metals onto the chips. During my internship I developed a method for the preparation of micron-sized single crystal samples, to which measurement wires were attached by a combination of electron-beam lithography and evaporation.

Condensed Matter Physics

Solid State Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Laser Physics, Atomic Physics, Pure & Applied Mathematics