What is our logo?
Our MRSEC logo shows the arrangement of atoms at the surface of a crystal. Crystals are made up of layers, or "planes" of atoms, perfectly stacked in an ordered pattern. Because this surface has been cut at a slight angle to the crystal planes, it appears "stepped" (we call this type of surface a vicinal surface). Modern scanned-probe microscopes, such as the STM, allow us to see the atoms at the surface of a crystal, producing images very similar to this one.

University of Maryland

Materials Research Science and Engineering Center

Facilities

Instrumentation Infrastructure

In order to establish a broader campus context, each MRSEC Shared Experimental Facility is operated cooperatively with another campus organizational unit. This arrangement allows more efficient maintenance, operation, and advertisement of these facilities and more effective support for collaborative interactions between MRSEC researchers and researchers from a variety of academic, industrial, and government laboratories. The SEFs are further allied to the multi-user facilities of the University of Maryland NanoCenter, which coordinates campus facilities for the fabrication and characterization of nanoscale structures. The NanoCenter features MRSEC SEFs on its comprehensive website devoted to research tools (see below).

• Maryland NanoCenter
• Electron Microscopy Facility (NISP Lab)
• Chemistry Department facilities
• Center for Nanoscale and Advanced Materials (CNAM) facilities