What we do
My group works on the experimental investigation of several diverse physical systems at low temperatures. A large component of the lab is devoted to studying quantum mechanical properties of various sub-micron and micron scaled superconducting devices. In particular, we study superconducting single electron transistors (sSETs) and superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) and focus on improving our understanding of the effects of dissipation and the environment on the behaviour of such systems. We have also looked at the phenomenon of 1/f noise in Josephson junctions which may become an intrinsic limitation to the coherence time of superconducting devices for quantum computation.
The group is also studying numerous condensed matter systems including magnetic materials and heavy Fermion superconductors. Specifically, we have focused on disordered and geometrically frustrated magnetic systems which may manifest exotic ground states such as spin glasses, spin ice and spin liquids. Our main characterization techniques are specific heat measurements and SQUID based magnetization and ac susceptibility. All these experiments are run at temperatures as low as 4 mK above absolute zero.
The Oxford 600 has a base temperature of 4mK.