JEE-420 Vacuum Evaporator

The JEE-420 Vacuum Evaporator is a high-vacuum specimen preparation station for both transmission and scanning electron microscopy applications. It is particularly useful in the rapid preparation of fine-grain TEM specimen support films by carbon evaporation, or the evaporation of a variety of metals and other materials in the preparation of replicas and shadow-cast specimens.

Langmuir-Blodgett Instrument

Priority Directions of Research:
· Study of monolayers at the air-water interface.
· Elaboration of LB film formation processes and successive transfer of monolayers onto different types of substrates.
· Deposition of LB and LS layers for the following applications:
superthin uniform dielectric films,
thin films of conducting organic materials,
thin films for nonlinear optics,
superthin photo- and electron beam coatings,
thin films of various biological molecules,
alternate-monolayer structures.

Optical Microscopy with Digital Imaging

This equipment is used mainly for operative characterization of the produced films for the purpose of technology elaboration. The results of studies are used to find a correct way to change the conditions of film deposition.

FT-IR Spectrophotometer

FT-IR Spectrophotometer (transmission, ATR, grazing-angle modes).
Priority Directions of Research:
· LB film characterization (monitoring of reactions, polymerization,
detection of protein adsorption).
· Study of structural characteristics.
· Study of the monolayers at the air-water interface.

AFM/STM Thermomicroscopes

Microscope including AFM lithography
Priority Directions of Research
· Molecular resolution imaging of polymeric monolayers.

Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM)

· Modified SNOM microscope with pump-probe configuration and spettroscopy applications.
· set up time and space resolved measurement of photoinduced birefringence.

Priority Directions of Research
· Submicron spectroscopy and local birefringence in photosensitive azopolymers.

Raman Spectroscopy

· confocal CCD Raman microspectrometer (JY-Horiba T64000 triple monochromator).
· high luminosity CCD Raman and luminescence spectrograph
· Argon-Krypton laser (6Watts).

Ellipsometry

· Null-ellipsometer (lambda=633nm) with high angular resolution (<0.002°), which enables to measure film thickness with sub-Angstrom nominal precision in  molecular layers either on solid substrate or as Langmuir monolayers floating on water surface. Imaging  mode is also available. Sample temperature can be controlled in the range –10 +80°C. Kinetics experiments can be performed with time resolution of tens of seconds. The same instrument can also measure Surface Plasmon Resonance e.g. to measure refractive index in optically anisotropic media.