The discoveries of superconductivity, the quantum Hall effect, and the fractional quantum Hall effect were all the result of measurements made at increasingly lower temperatures. Now, pushing the regime of the very cold into the very small, a team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the University of Maryland, Janis Research Co. Inc., and Seoul National University has designed and built the most advanced ultra-low temperature scanning probe microscope (ULTSPM) in the world.

Detailed in a recent paper¹, the ULTSPM operates at lower temperatures and higher magnetic fields than any other similar microscope, with capabilities that enable the device to resolve energy levels separated by as small as 1 millionth of an electron volt. This extraordinary resolution has already resulted in the discovery of new physics (see “Puzzling New Physics from Graphene Quartet’s Quantum Harmonies”).

 …