Cryogenic spectroscopic imaging scanning tunnelling microscope in a water-cooled magnet down to 1.7 K

Abstract

Spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunnelling microscope (SI-STM) in a water-cooled magnet (WM) at low temperature has long been desirable in the condensed matter physics area since it is crucial for addressing various scientific problems, such as the behaviour of Cooper electrons crossing Hc2 in a high-temperature superconductor. Here we report on the construction and performance of the first atomically resolved cryogenic SI-STM in a WM. It operates at low temperatures of down to 1.7 K and in magnetic fields of up to 22 T (the WM's upper safety limit). The WM-SI-STM unit features a high-stiffness sapphire-based frame with the lowest eigenfrequency being 16 kHz. A slender piezoelectric scan tube (PST) is coaxially embedded in and glued to the frame. A well-polished zirconia shaft is spring-clamped onto the gold-coated inner wall of the PST to serve both the stepper and the scanner. The microscope unit as a whole is elastically suspended in a tubular sample space inside a 1K-cryostat by a two-stage internal passive vibrational reduction system, achieving a base temperature below 2 K in a static exchange gas. We demonstrate the SI-STM by imaging TaS2 at 50 K and FeSe at 1.7 K. Detecting the well-defined superconducting gap of FeSe, an iron-based superconductor, at variable magnetic fields demonstrates the device's spectroscopic imaging capability. The maximum noise intensity at the typical frequency is 3 pA per square root Hz at 22 T, which is only slightly worse than at 0 T, indicating the insensitivity of the STM to harsh conditions. In addition, our work shows the potential of SI-STMs for use in a WM and hybrid magnet with a 50 mm-bore size where high fields can be generated.