We are convinced that great discoveries are always enabled by technological advancements, which facilitate exploration of otherwise inaccessible phenomena. We previously contributed these advancements by implementing novel measurement methodologies in scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), such as Josephson STM and Tedrow-Meservey-Fulde STM as tools to probe the superconducting and magnetic order parameters with unprecedented resolution at atomic length scales (1-3). We have shown that these methods can unravel new microscopic insights on novel quantum particles, such as the Majorana quasiparticle (5). One of our next goals is to implement a method for STM investigation of quasiparticle dynamics in quantum materials with high spatial and temporal resolution.

All of our microscopes are home-built systems that were developed in cooperation with leading cryogenics companies. The microscopies are tailor-designed to meet the requirements of our state-of-the-art research on MBE-grown and exfoliated 2D materials.

In addition to STM, quantum sensing microscopies, which employ two-level systems as tremendously sensitive quantum sensors, facilitate the study of quantum materials from entirely new perspectives. We always keep an open eye at opportunities in this field. Recently, we have proposed ‘Scanning charge quit microscopy’ as a new method to visualise nanoscale dissipative charge carrier dynamics (4). We are looking forward to implementing this and related quantum microscopies.