Welcome to my lab! It is located in the Applied Engineering and Technology (AET) Building of the University of Texas at San Antonio. As a faculty member of the Department of Physics and Astronomy of UT San Antonio, I am currently building the Planetary Material CHaractErization Facility (PMCHEF), funded by the NASA Planetary Science Early Career Award.
Our lab focuses on characterizing the physical properties of planetary materials on nano- and micro-scale, and our instrumentation includes:
1) Optical property characterization bench in dry-nitrogen: two J. A. Woollam Ellipsometer Systems (M-2000 and IR-vase) for measuring the optical constants of thin-film samples from the UV to the mid-infrared (190 nm to 30 µm);
2) Mechanical property characterization bench in dry-nitrogen: a KLA iMicro Nanoindenter for measuring a range of mechanical properties (elastic, plastics, and fracture properties) of small amounts of samples including thin films and powders;
3) Surface, mechanical, and electrical property characterization bench at various environmental conditions: a Bruker Dimension Icon Scanning Probe Microscope that can measure the surface, mechanical, and electrical properties of small amounts of samples, including cohesion, adhesion, nanomechanical, tribocharging, and dielectric properties;
4) Surface property characterization bench: an Ossila Contact Angle Goniometer and Tensiometer, which can be used to measure the surface tensions of liquids through the pendant drop method and surface energies of solids through sessile drop contact angle measurements using test liquids of different surface tensions.
The ellipsometers and the nanoindenters are housed in dry-nitrogen purged glove boxes from MBraun, with less than 1 ppm of water vapor and less than 1 ppm of oxygen, to avoid contamination and degradation of the samples and to make sure the air contaminants minimally affect the surface properties of the samples. The goniometer is housed in a homemade glove box, and the measurements are conducted in a dry nitrogen environment to minimize the effect of water vapor and hydrocarbon contaminants from ambient air. The goniometer is portable and can be moved to other locations if samples need to be investigated at other laboratories or in the field. The scanning probe microscopy can be operated under a range of humidity conditions using a homemade glove bag.
The PMCHEF laboratory is also equipped with a chemical fume hood, vented cabinets for flammable liquids, multiple vacuum desiccators for sample storage, a Satorius Entris II Essential Analytical Balance, a drying/sterilizing oven, a Fisherbrand analog vortex mixer, a Pace Technologies NANO-2000S metallographic polisher, a Branson Ultrasonics M Series Ultrasonic Cleaner, and all other facilities required to safely and successfully complete the characterizations needed for planetary/exoplanetary relevant materials.
During my postdoc, thanks to the discretionary funding of the 51 Pegasi b postdoctoral fellow, I was able to build a few pieces of homemade, low-cost equipment to conduct planetary and exoplanetary material characterization experiments at UC Santa Cruz and brought them to UTSA.
